Newspaper Page Text
12A
August 26, 2004
Investigation : Federal authorities engage in selection proseution of Walker
Continued from page 1A
is about as dumb a statement
that anyone could have said.”
Walker has maintained all
along that the case against
him is politically motivated.
“It is very disturbing to me
to find out that the genesis of
this investigation started with
Don Cheeks. On many occa
sions Mr. Cheeks has said he
was not involved in this inves
tigation, but obviously the
records show otherwise,”
Walker said.
Thompson, a Republican,
resigned under fire January,
shortly before he was cited by
the U.S. Justice Department
for allowing politics to influ
ence his decisions to investi
gate some of the state’s rank
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ing Democrats.
“... US. Attorney Rick
Thompson personally ques
tioned ‘confllficntial sources’
and later requested that the
GBI initiate a criminal inves
tigation of Walker based in
large part on what appears to
be nothing more than gos
samer rumor,” states the
defense filing.
Walker's attorneys go on to
suggest that Walker has been
subjected to “selective prose
cution” in several instances,
among them, allegations in
the indictment that the
Augusta Focus inflated its cir
culation numbers to pump
up advertising rates.
“The decision to bring
criminal charges in connec
tion with the Focus advertis
ing, despite the fact that
around the country numer
ous newspapers have
acknowlcdge(f that claims of
readership and circulation are
inflated demonstrates ...
intentional discrimination
that is intolerable,” according
" to the motions.
The Walker case is said to
be a first in that it pursues
questions of ethics violations
that have already been dis
missed by the Georgia Attor
ney General, Thurbert Baker.
Defense attorneys note that
several high ranking state offi
cials, including the GBI
director, have recently been
cited by the State’s Ethics
Commission for failing to file
financial disclosure reports.
“Violations of state ethics
laws are as commonplace as
kudzu ... Yet ... not a single
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other public official has ever
been prosecuted for conduct
that is covered by the Ethics
Laws of Georgia® writes
Walker’s attorneys.
The motions dispute the
indictment’s claims that
Walker used his political
office to gain business for his
temporary employment
agency, Georgia Personnel,
from Grady Hospital in
Atanta.
“The indictment alleges ...
that ... Charles Walker
‘expected and understood’
that he would receive a bene
fit from Grady in exchange
for his favorable action on
pending legislation. Yet this
‘expectation and understand
ing was never expressed to
anybody at Grady... Thus
Charles Walker is accused of
evil thoughts, without having
expressed them to anybody.
This is ‘thought’ extortion
masquerading as mail fraud
with no fraudulent represen
tation being made to the
‘fraud victim,” the motion
states.
In refuting fraud charges in
connection with Walker
using the marketing and
advertising services of his own
newspaper during Walker’s
2002 campaign, attorneys
write, “Obviously there is no
law that forbids a campaign
from spending money for
this purpose but the indict
ment alleges that it was
fraudulent in this case
because the consulting was
performed by another com
pany that is owned by Walk
Continued from page 1A
April after the sales tax advi
sory panel returned its rec
ommendations. The group’s
proposal called for a $352
million overall budget, cut
ting funds from some proj
ects while extracting others
all together. Since that time,
however, the commission has
increased the budget to $386
million and added a number
of projects to the list. At
press time, the running total
for projects to be funded was
$579,245,105 million, leav
ing the body with nearly
S2OO million in cuts to make
by week’s end.
While the entire group can
agree that cuts must be
made, few seem willing to
compromise on the items
they want funded. In addi
tion to the sports arena,
other points of contention
are the more than $220 mil
lion requested for public
works projects, parks and
recreation department
requests totaling over $43
million, and a $24 million
inner city development and
improvement project pro
posed by Commissioner
Betty Beard at the eleventh
Player ors the
Week
- Aquantis Mobley
Glenn Hills
6' 175 Ibs. Senior, starting Quarter
Back and Defensive Back
He ran for a touchdown and threw
a touchdown pass. His defense held
T.W. Josey to less than 50 yards rushing
and less than 5C yards passing.
Sponsored by Augusta Focus,
100 Black Men, Power 107 and Papa John's
Colhns, .
Catering Faw i
Serwuvice @
For All Occasions! k‘\
In Weddings - Receptions - Parties
('”(ZI Reasonable Price for Quality Food!
Trust! Joe Collins
Owner ~ General Manager
Phone: 706.860.9578 Pager: 706.785.8759
er. By what measure is the
federal government going to
evaluate such conduct? Can
Disney buy a television show
from ABC? Can Turner
Broadcasting sell advertising
to CNN? The government
does not allege that there was
any false representation made
to any person ... in connec
tion with the expenditure of
money.”
Based on these and other
findings, defense attorneys
are asking that the court dis
miss the case against Walker
and his daughter — who have
both pleaded innocent to the
charges that boil down to
mail fraud, conspiracy and fil
ing false tax returns. The
prosecution is expected to
reply within a month.
hour. Noting that the entire
process seemed to be going
in a circle, Commissioner
Andy Cheek suggested that
the group develop some sort
of methodology for making
final decisions to the list.
During the Tuesday meet
ing the board agreed to
move “safe” projects to a
second straw poll list. Items
such as $9 million for two
new jail pods, $4 million for
two new fire stations, $1
million to the Lucy Craft
Laney Museum and $2.5
million for the Augusta
Mini Theater passed with
out a hitch. Requests from
the cities of Hephzibah and
Blythe were also moved to
the second list with litde dis
cussion.
In order to haye ghe
SPLOST referendum includ
ed in the November 2 election
commissioners must complete
the list and approve the resolu
tion by August 27 in order to
give the board of elections
time to post the information
in the citys paper of record.
The information must be
advertised by September 3, 60
days before voters would
decide on the matter.