Former Gov. Roy Barnes said Thursday that Rep. Tyrone Brooks was a child of Jim Crow Georgia who spent his life working to change his state for the better.
In doing so, Barnes said, Brooks, D-Atlanta, felt his life was about service, “not amassing great wealth.” The 30-count federal indictment handed up last week that accuses Brooks of stealing nearly $1 million from two organizations shows a case of bad bookkeeping by a man focused on helping others, not a criminal intent on defrauding good causes, Barnes said.
Barnes, who will defend Brooks in court, said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates has mistaken poor bookkeeping for a crime and said the IRS should have pursued civil action against Brooks to settle any tax issue.
Barnes refused to allow Brooks to speak to reporters Thursday and said he believed the FBI sent someone to monitor the news conference at his own Marietta law office. Brooks, dressed casually in a brown shirt and slacks, stood beside Barnes and held a grandchild in his arms.
Brooks was reimbursed for expenses by the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials and by United Humanities. Brooks, the former governor said, instead should have paid himself a salary from either of the two.
“And if he had done that, we would not be here today,” Barnes said. “Instead, he was paid an amount approximating his expenses for his work, and somehow that is a crime. Bad bookkeeping — maybe, but not a crime.”
But Barnes refused to say how much of the money Brooks raised for the two organizations ever made it to actual charitable programs. He also refused to say whether he believes the case is retribution for Brooks’ work to bring attention to the unsolved, 1946 lynching of two black couples at Moore’s Ford Bridge in Monroe.
Brooks has said previously that federal agents were investigating him because he was getting close to proving that the FBI was involved in the lynching. Brooks originally said Thursday’s news conference would be at Moore’s Ford Bridge. But Barnes quickly nixed that idea.
Brooks had his first court appearance Wednesday and was released on bond.
Barnes said Yates should have used the discretion awarded U.S. attorneys and not brought charges against the civil rights veteran. There have been other “high-profile cases” where charges were not brought, Barnes said, although he refused to identify them.
During a news conference last week, Yates acknowledged that Brooks “has done much good in his life, both as a state legislator and civil rights leader. … He’s been a powerful voice for change in our state, change that needed to happen.”
But those good works “didn’t give him a license to steal,” she said.
The grand jury in Atlanta charged that Brooks funnelled almost $1 million in donations into his personal accounts and used the funds to pay expenses such as home repair, lawn service, credit card bills and entertainment.
The indictment said Brooks, first elected to the state House in 1980, misappropriated funds from GABEO and Universal Humanities, an organization he established in the early 1990s to combat illiteracy in disadvantaged communities.
Brooks was required to surrender his passport and instructed not to travel outside Georgia without permission from the court.
Barnes noted that the indictment claims Brooks was paid for expenses of $40,000 to $50,000 per year.
“If Tyrone had been paid a salary of 40 (thousand) to $50,000 per year over the 20 years for full-time work, could there be any dispute that he was entitled to that?” Barnes said. “I don’t think so.”
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