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Murphy Martin Commentary
October 4, 2007
"Bribery,
Fraud, Conspiracy, Among Federal Charges in Dallas!"
After more than
two-years investigating, more than a dozen people including at least
three elected officials were charged with bribery, conspiracy,
extortion, fraud and kickbacks. It was not the first time, nor will
it be the last time elected officials allegedly accepted bribes for
their votes.
Greed has a way of changing some politician's promises to "serve"
their constituents fairly. In this case in Dallas, Texas, the
elected officials charged ranged from a longtime City Council
member, to a Mayor Pro-Tem and even a State Representative.
Twelve of the sixteen charged so far have been African-Americans and
that quickly raised the question of bias in the FBI investigations.
That is not a first either, nor will IT be the last. Many cities, of
all sizes, have seen similar charges leveled in days gone by. Buying
political support for special interests is an indelible part of the
political landscape, from city hall to the White House.
Of course at the national level paid support is often couched in PAC
groups, Political Action Committees.
Back to these new charges in Dallas: U.S. Attorney Richard Roper
announced indictments against State Representative Terri Hodge,
D-Dallas; James Fantroy, former Dallas City Council Member; and,
former Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill; former Plan Commissioner D'Angelo
Lee; and Housing Developer Brian Potashnik, among others. The
Federal charges allege that public officials in Dallas were paid off
to help Potashnik's company win lucrative low-income housing
contracts, and, that others helped in the bribery schemes or
profited from them.
The plot thickens when Mr. Fantroy, who is suffering from cancer and
kidney failure, said he could not afford an attorney. Fantroy has
publicly claimed that he did nothing wrong. In addition to his
questioned voting on the City Council, Fantroy is accused of
embezzling more than five-thousand dollars in federal grant money
from predominantly all-black Paul Quinn College in Dallas.
Sheila Farrington, former political consultant and girl-friend of
Mayor Pro Team Hill, and now Hill's wife, was also indicted and
allegedly helped funnel illegal payoffs to Hill. Mr. Potashnik
lashed out at federal officials over the weekend for including his
father and his wife in the indictments, calling it "cruel and
unjustified".
Federal officials have indicated still others could be indicted in
these cases. Who knows when the trials will actually get underway.
U.S. Attorney said the Dallas charges represents "the biggest and
most expansive public corruption case he has seen in more than
twenty-years as a prosecutor."
Newly elected Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, just weeks into his first
term, said Monday: " This is a sad day for Dallas." In the weeks and
months leading up to the indictments announced this week, Leppert,
then a candidate for Mayor, and other council members were critical
of the way the investigation was slowly moving. They called it a
needless cloud over city government.
Mayor Leppert may learn that similar charges often are leveled at
city officials. Not always by federal officials but state and county
district attorneys also are not bashful in making sure elected
officials play by the rules , despite all the bribe efforts too many
succumb because of personal GREED! May Leppert lead a council free
of votes that can be sold!
Dallas deserves better than demonstrated by those facing allegations
now awaiting resolution!
That's my time, thank you for yours!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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