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DEL.ICIO.USWitness: Campbell didn’t sign water deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A former special assistant to Bill Campbell testified that the former mayor did not sign off on a lucrative contract a water management company received after making political contributions to Campbell and funding his travels.
Eunice Lockhart-Moss told the jury Campbell never signed contract documents worth millions to United Water, a French-owned company that managed the city’s water system.
Prosecutors allege that Campbell extended United Water’s contract — worth about $80 million over the contract’s life — just days before he left office in December 2001. A handwriting expert for the prosecution testified last month that it was Campbell’s signature on contracts.
But Lockhart-Moss told jurors today that Campbell refused to sign the documents before he left office and never saw them until six months later.
Instead, she testified that DeWayne Martin, the mayor’s former chief operating officer, took the documents from her in December 2001 after Campbell had already vacated his City Hall office.
Lockhart-Moss said Martin, who often signed documents for the mayor, later told her: “I have just taken care of some people since your mayor doesn’t know how to take care of people who have helped him.�
Defense attorneys claim Martin signed the documents without Campbell’s authorization.
On Monday, the mayor’s press secretary, Zee Bradford, testified that Martin could so closely duplicate the Campbell’s signature that “we could hardly tell the difference.�
As part of the racketeering charge, prosecutors allege:
• Atlanta officials first awarded United Water a 20-year contract with an annual payment of $21.4 million in 1998. Months later, in July 1999, United Water paid $12,900 for a trip to Paris for Campbell and the mayor’s previous chief operating officer, Wilton Lawrence “Larry” Wallace. A female friend of the mayor’s met him in Paris, and the couple spent much of their time sightseeing, according to photos displayed for jurors.
• The same month, water executives and others contributed $6,900 to Campbell’s campaign even though he would not be eligible for a third term.
Defense attorneys have fought back, saying Campbell and Wallace went to Paris on business since United Water’s parent company is based there. They also defend any campaign contributions as legal donations to retire campaign debt.
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