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DEL.ICIO.USWitness: Campbell got illegal contributions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With witness Joseph Reid on the stand, prosecutors sought today to show that illegal campaign contributions were given directly to former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell and that Campbell handled illegal checks that were contributed to his 1998 run-off election. Those checks were written in the names of Campbell family members.
Reid was the deputy chief operating officer of the city at the time and reported to former Chief Operating Officer Larry Wallace, who has since been convicted of taking bribes.
Reid was convicted of corruption and served two years in prison. He is testifying as part of a plea deal with the federal government.
Reid’s testimony contradicts Campbell’s defense team’s claim earlier in the trial that Campbell was not aware that illegal contributions were given to his campaign in checks that were written with the names of five members of his family.
Reid also testified that on more than one occasion he gave cash contributions to Campbell’s campaign directly to the mayor. Reid is also only the second witness to testify he gave cash to the mayor. Earlier witness Dewey Clark, the mayor’s former special assistant, testified he gave Campbell cash from contractors on several occasions. He said cash was passed on to the mayor in the mayor’s City Hall office and in the bathroom of a Mississippi casino.
Reid was asked by assistant prosecuting attorney Phyllis Sumner why he gave checks and cash to the mayor, and he said Wallace told him Reid would “get credit for the money you raise.�
Reid testified that the money for the campaign contributions was raised illegally. The scheme worked this way: Spectronics, a city contractor, gave Reid and Wallace the money, and Reid and Wallace would draw up a list of names and write checks to the campaigns in those names.
The campaign contributions were disguised as $1,000 and $2,000 checks written in the names of Spectronics employees, and Campbell family members and others.
The defense has maintained that Campbell was not aware of the illegal fund-raising. Reid’s testimony seemed to contradict that contention. He said that he came up with the idea of using Campbell family members on the checks after talking to Wallace. He testified that Spectronics told him it had the money for more contributions, but he needed new names to put on the checks.
Campaign law makes it illegal for an individual to contribute more than $2,000.
Reid testified that he asked Wallace for more names. “He [Wallace] told me he would find the names,� testified Reid.
Prosecutor Sumner asked Reid if Wallace gave him the names at that moment. Reid testified Wallace did not give him the names, but Wallace gave him Campbell’s family member’s names either the next day or a few days later.
The impression Sumner was trying to leave with the jury was that Wallace consulted with Campbell before Wallace provided Campbell’s family names to be put on the checks. Reid, however, did not testify that Wallace asked Campbell for his family names.
Reid did testify, however, that when he got the checks back from Spectronics with the Campbell family member’s names on them, he gave those checks to Campbell. He said he was not sure if Campbell looked at the checks. He gave them to Campbell in an envelope.
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