Wednesday, March 19, 2008
News Georgia's Legislature target of federal investigation
Posted by Scott Freeman on Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:08 PM
In journalism there's a term called "burying the lead."
What it means is that a reporter downplays and misses the impact of what should be the most important aspect of a story. And with its story on former state Rep. Ron Sailor's plea in federal court for money laundering, the AJC buried the lead.
The real news here is that Georgia's Legislature is the target of a FBI investigation. And what the feds did yesterday was throw down the gauntlet to those who have committed crimes. Read this statement by U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias:
"Shortly after he was confronted by the FBI, however, Mr. Sailor decided to do the right thing by admitting his misconduct and agreeing to cooperate regarding potential criminal activity by others. As a result, we now have an active public corruption investigation. With respect to that investigation, all I will say at this time is the following: As Mr. Sailor and others have learned, people in public office who have violated the law and the public’s trust should know that their situation will be much better if they come knocking on the FBI’s door than if the FBI comes knocking on theirs.â€
The AJC was also scooped by Dick Pettys at Insider Advantage, who reports that at least one state legislator has been wearing a wire for the past year.
It's certainly no coincidence that Sailor's arrest in December went unreported in the media: The feds used him as a mole to ferret out other corrupt legislators.
What's being said between the lines of Nahmias' statement is that the feds already have the goods on some public officials. And yesterday, the feds served notice that they mean business.
If an elected official wants to avoid prison time, he'd better step forward now, come clean and give up others involved in public corruption.
This investigation has the potential to turn up information even more tawdry than the corruption uncovered in the administration of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell.
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