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Thursday, May 11, 2006
Schrenko under cross: Temple was “the Puppet Master”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former State School Superintendent, Linda Schrenko, who pleaded guily Wednesday to money laundering and embezzling to finance her failed campaign for governor, testifed Thursday as part of her plea deal with the government.
Most of her testimony was aimed at Merle Temple, her former deputy superintendent and lover, who was charged late Thursday with obstruction of justice for allegedly planning to protect Schrenko when he testified against her.
Schrenko said she and Temple took cash to various people to get them to write campaign checks, including her mother, her daughter, and state Rep. Sue Burmeister of Augusta.
Contacted by telephone Thursday afternoon, Burmeister said: “I wrote two checks out of my personal account that I gave to her campaign. And I have just been served a subpoena to testify. I haven’t seen it yet. It was delivered to my office. So at this point, I feel I probably cannot comment. Linda personally did not give me money.”
When asked if Temple did, she said, “I probably can’t comment because I haven’t talked to anybody.”
Campaign disclosure reports filed by Schrenko’s campaign show Burmeister wrote campaign two checks, one on Dec. 31, 2001 for $150 and one on June 29, 2002 for $250.
Under cross examination Thursday afternoon, Schrenko testified that Temple called himself “the Puppet Master,” because he worked behind the scenes on her campaign and thought he was largely in control of the state Department of Education.
Temple was a former law enforcement officer and spokesman for Bell South in the Augusta area before Shrenko brought him in as a deputy state school superintendent, she said.
During her tenure, Schrenko said she controlled a $7 billion annual budget. But on several occasions, she said, Temple asked her sign documents she didn’t think she had authority to sign. Schrenko testified she once signed a $4,500 contract but didn’t know what it was for, at Temple’s request.
During her gubernational campaign, with her health bad, her finances “abysmal” and with a poor showing in the polls, Schrenko said she considered dropping out of the race. “I think I spent every night crying for hours,” she said. “I was ready to just go home. It was hurting me physically.”
Botes recommended she take vitamins, she testified.
But Temple and her original campaign manager talked her into staying in the race, she said. That’s when she said Temple told her he’d put the commissions he earned from Botes’ computer company and some of his own retirement money into her campaign.
She said that after she and Temple learned in 2004 they were under federal investigation, Temple insisted they go to see Botes. The three met at a Buckhead pub, she said, and Temple hugged Botes.
“Merle’s not a hugger,” Schrenko said, but he joked that he was checking Botes for a wire. “Mr. Botes said he was wearing tennis clothes and had noplace to hide a wire,” she said.
Botes and Temple, she said, were both afraid the federal government would tap their telephones.
After Temple made a deal with the government last year to testify against her, Schrenko said he continued to call, email, visit and bring her presents. She said the government warned him to stop doing that and, for three weeks, she said he did. Then he began calling and visiting again, she testified. “Temple told me that, according to his plea aggrement, he wasn’t supposed to have any contact with me whatsoever.”
Schrenko said Temple told her believed he would get a two-year probated sentence plus community service for his part of the embezzelment and money laundering scheme. He later told her he’d get a third of whatever sentence she got, she said.
Staff writer Nancy Badertscher contributed to this story.
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Schrenko’s first testimony: Aide steered the deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former state School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzlement and money laundering, testified Thursday morning against her former deputy superintendent and lover, Merle Temple.
Schrenko said Temple devised the scheme to funnel illegal money into her 2002 gubernatorial campaign and guided the process every step of the way.
Schrenko said it was Temple’s idea to have the Department of Education cut 11 checks for just under $50,000 to the Atlanta computer company of Stephan Botes, a South African national and millionaire whom prosecutors say hoped to get a major contract with the school system in return for making illegal contributions to Schrenko’s campaign.
The checks were officially earmarked for Botes’ company to produce software that would benefit deaf and honors students, she said.
Schrenko, who looked directly at the jury and spoke passionately when she talked of the planned educational programs, said she thought the company would produce the software eventually.
“The schools for the deaf and blind are schools that rarely get anything extra, Schrenko told the jury.
Government prosecutor Russell Vineyard asked: “Was that your motivation, Ms. Schrenko?”
She replied, “In part, but I also knew Merle would get a commission on it. I knew whatever commission came to Merle, he would put in my campaign.
In the summer of 2002, Shrenko said Temple resigned as her deputy to go to work for Botes’ company. Temple promised he’d give Shrenko the majority of the commissions he earned for her campaign, she testified.
Schrenko admitted she did not have the authority to issue the checks without following protocol but said Temple convinced her it would take too long to go through the usual channels.
In return, Schrenko said, Temple asked her to sign a $2.5 million contract with Botes’ company. She said she never actually signed the contract, which was stamped with her signature, instead of signed.
Botes and a former employee, Peter Steyn, are co-defendants in the federal corruption trial, now in its second week. During opening statements last week, Botes’ attorney claimed any deals with Schrenko and Temple were done by his underlings.
But Schrenko said she and her female assistant spent the night at Botes’ home in Country Club of the South the night before a March 2002 breakfast fundraiser the computer executive held for her. Many of the 30 to 40 people who attended were not U. S. citizens and would not have been eligible to vote, she said.
“I kind of wondered wondered why, if I couldn’t get their votes, they would be interested in my campaign for governor,” Schrenko testified.
Schrenko said she and Temple also spent a night alone at Botes’ home before another fundraiser at Country Club of the South in the summer of 2002.
Schrenko seemed relaxed on the witness stand, speaking softly and often smiling at the jury.
After she pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Temple, who was scheduled to testify against her in return for a lighter sentence, was charged with obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors produced a tape-recorded telephone conversation between Schrenko and Temple on May 2 in which he offered to leave damaging information about her out of his testimony, as long as her attorney protected him.
Recording telephone conversations is legal in Georgia as long as one of the parties agrees to it, indicating Schrenko’s participation in the taping factored in the new charges against Temple.
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