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DEL.ICIO.USWitnesses fail to make Campbell connection
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There was more testimony Tuesday about lewd body positions of strippers, machine guns and arson than about any evidence directly linking former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell to bribes.
Once again, government witnesses testified that thousands of dollars in bribes were passed directly to mayoral aide Dewey Clark – not to the mayor himself.
As prosecutors began their fourth week of testimony, Clark is the only witness who has testified that he passed cash bribes from city contractors to the mayor’s hands. Prosecutors say Clark was a key bagman who squeezed city contractors on behalf of Campbell and passed the cash to the mayor for use on exotic trips with girlfriends and gambling jaunts with buddies.
Clark testified that he also passed money from Atlanta strip club owner Michael Childs, who wanted the mayor to approve a liquor license for a controversial new club, Strawberries.
Campbell insists he is innocent and his defense team has portrayed Clark as a greedy wannabe who used the mayor’s name to line his own pockets.
And they were anxious to tear into Childs, an admitted arsonist and convicted felon who was caught by the FBI plotting to beat up Campbell after the mayor didn’t approve the liquor license.
But prosecutors opted to bring in Childs’ former attorney, Alan Begner, who testified that Childs told him he passed a bribe to the mayor.
“Childs said he was giving money to the mayor through Dewey,� Begner said.
Begner acknowledged that he didn’t know if the money ever made it to the mayor, while under cross-examination by lead defense attorney Billy Martin.
In other testimony, the former owner of city contractor Sable Communications, George Greene, testified he paid Campbell $5,000 for a 30-minute speech, after Clark told Green that mayor needed money.
Greene testified that on another occasion he gave Clark $750 to give to the mayor because Campbell said he needed the money to pay airfare to bring one of the mayor’s girlfriends into town.
He said he later asked Campbell in the mayor’s office: “Did he get my package that Dewey Clark picked up?â€?
Greene testified Campbell “looked at me kind of annoyed� and said: “Next time that happens, you call.�
Greene said he concluded from Campbell’s comment that it was “OK at that point to give the mayor money.â€? He said the reason he asked the mayor about the package was because “I didn’t want him [Clark] to be coming by my office getting money for the mayor under false pretenses.â€?
Greene testified that he entered a plea agreement in June 2000 with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony and that he has pleaded guilty to making payments to Michael Hightower, former Fulton County Comissioner.
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