Former Georgia Congressman Pat Swindall has been indicted for lying -- again -- and for making illegal campaign contributions in a key Atlanta City Council race.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Swindall and two businessmen for making illegal campaign contributions to Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd. It also indicted them for making false statements because their actions concealed that Swindall was the actual source of the contributions. The donations were reported on Sheperd's campaign disclosure forms as coming from other people.
Sheperd said she learned about the scheme two years ago when one of the businessmen, bowling alley owner Bruce Richardson, pressured her for favors for Swindall, telling her that he had contributed $8,000 to her campaign to beat Derrick Boazman in 2005
"I didn't even know Pat Swindall," she said Wednesday. "I got kind of scared."
She said she feared Swindall, Richardson and the third businessman, Christopher McCreary, were "trying to set me up" and she contacted District Attorney Paul Howard in 2007. Howard then began the investigation, which resulted in the 10-count indictment Tuesday that included four felony charges of making false statements regarding the donations, and five misdemeanors of exceeding maximum allowable campaign contributions and of conspiracy to commit a crime.
Howard's office leases a building from Swindall, who is now a real-estate investor, for its cold-case unit. Howard declined to comment on his relationship with Swindall or whether seeking an indictment against his office's landlord posed a conflict-of-interest. The contributions came when Sheperd was trying to hold on to her District 12 seat in south Atlanta and facing a strong challenge from Boazman, who had represented the district for seven years and nearly reclaimed the seat in the general election but lost to Sheperd in the run-off election.
Sheperd's victory was a win for Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who herself easily won a second four-year term and who heavily campaigned for Sheperd and others she wanted to see return to the council. Franklin didn't mask her dislike for Boazman, whom she once labeled a bully.
Sheperd said that Richardson and McCreary raised money for the run-off election. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.
"They didn't like Derrick Boazman," she said. "They were part of a whole cadre of folks who were giving me money."
Swindall contributed the $8,000 for the hotly contested run-off election by conspiring with the two men to funnel it to Sheperd's campaign. Swindall wrote the check and Richardson and McCreary recruited six "conduit donors" who along with the two businessmen each contributed $1,000 to Sheperd's campaign, Howard said.
It is not Swindall's first brush with the law. The two-time elected Republican Congressman from Georgia's 4th District lost re-election in 1988 shortly after he was indicted on perjury charges regarding an Internal Revenue Service investigation of his business dealings.
He was convicted in 1989 and was sentenced to a year in prison. Attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
Sheperd said she planned to return the $8,000 , but she wasn't sure where she was going to get the money.
She is campaigning to keep her council seat, which represents Capitol View, Sylvan Hills and Lakewood Heights neighborhoods in South Atlanta, and as of March 31, the last reporting period, she had only raised about $1,400.
"I didn't have any money leftover from my last campaign," she said. "This is a hard time for me to be dealing with this."
Staff writer Eric Stirgus contributed to this story.
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