Man who beat civil rights leader asks forgiveness
By BEN EVANS – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elwin Wilson was an unabashed racist, the sort who once hung a black doll from a noose outside his home. John Lewis was a young civil rights leader bent on changing laws, if not hearts and minds, even if it cost him his life.
They faced each other at a South Carolina bus station during a protest in 1961. Wilson joined a white gang that jeered Lewis, attacked him and left him bloodied on the ground.
Forty-eight years later, the men met again — this time so Wilson could apologize to Lewis and express regret for his hatred. Lewis, now a congressman from Atlanta, greeted his former tormentor at his Capitol Hill office.
"I just told him that I was sorry," Wilson, 72, said in a telephone interview Wednesday as he traveled home to Rock Hill, S.C. For years, he said, he tried to block the incident out of his mind "and couldn't do it."
Lewis said Wilson is the first person involved in the dozens of attacks against him during the civil rights era to step forward and apologize. When they met Tuesday, Lewis offered forgiveness without hesitation.
"I was very moved," said Lewis. "He was very, very sincere, and I think it takes a lot of raw courage to be willing to come forward the way he did. ... I think it will lead to a great deal of healing."
Wilson said he had felt an urge to voice his remorse for years. He talked about his past activities a few weeks ago with a friend, and the friend asked him where he thought he might go if he died.
"I said probably hell," Wilson said. "He said, 'Well, you don't have to.'"
Wilson's apology was first reported by The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald. After reading an article about local black civil rights leaders reacting to President Barack Obama's inauguration, he and another former segregationist called the paper saying they wanted to apologize.
The paper aired their comments and documented an emotional meeting with the local activists at a former whites-only lunch counter in downtown Rock Hill, where Wilson had antagonized demonstrators during a 1961 sit-in.
After meeting with the local activists, Wilson realized that Lewis must have been the young black man he had attacked at the bus station that same year, when a bus carrying two Freedom Riders rolled into town. The riders were Lewis, who is black, and the late Albert Bigelow, who was white. Neither pressed charges over the assault.
Wilson didn't know that Lewis, who was 21 at the time, had since become one of the most influential Democrats in Congress.
"I never dreamed that a man that I had assaulted, that he would ever be a congressman and that I'd ever see him again," Wilson said. "He and everybody up there in his office ... they were just good people, treated you right and all."
Lewis and Wilson said they hoped Wilson's quest for redemption will inspire others who took part in civil rights-era violence to come forward and help heal wounds from the struggle over integration.
"I said if just one person comes forward and gets the hate out of their heart, it's all worth it," Wilson said. "But I hope there will be a bunch of people. Life's short and we all go to the same place when we die."
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
EPA Press Release: City Manager and City Supervisor to Report to Prison
City Manager and City Supervisor to Report to Prison
Release date: 02/05/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Anthony Suttice at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov
(Dallas, Texas – February 5, 2009) Elk City, Oklahoma, City Manager Guy R. Hylton, Jr. and Elk City Supervisor Chick Arthur Little, convicted of violations of the federal Clean Air Act, will serve their sentences at the Federal Prison Camp in Big Spring, Texas.
The two were originally indicted by a federal grand jury on December 19, 2006, for using Elk City inmates to renovate the Rock Island Railroad Depot in Elk City without providing respiratory protection, protective clothing, or taking other required measures used for the removal of asbestos. Asbestos causes a wide range of illnesses, including various forms of cancer, including mesothelioma, and asbestosis, a usually fatal lung disease.
Following a trial, a jury in Oklahoma City found each man guilty of negligent endangerment by allowing the release of asbestos in a way that created a danger of death or serious bodily injury to the inmates who were working for the city as part of a work-release program. Little was additionally convicted of felony false statements related to lying to investigators conducting the criminal investigation which led to his indictment.
Last January, United States District Judge Joe Heaton ordered Hylton to serve six months in federal prison and pay a $15,000 fine. Judge Heaton ordered Little to serve eight months in federal prison, serve two years of supervised release upon release from prison and perform 104 hours of community service in lieu of a fine.
“EPA will continue to vigorously enforce our nation’s environmental laws through a strong enforcement program,” said EPA Special Agent in Charge Warren Amburn. “We must hold those accountable who endanger others and lie to federal officials to cover up their misconduct.”
Both men appealed their convictions to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and learned this week the court issued orders and judgments affirming their convictions and sentences. As a result of the failed appeal and his looming prison sentence, Guy Hylton resigned as Elk City’s Manager effective February 16, 2009.
Chick Arthur Little has been ordered to report to the Federal Prison Camp in Big Spring on Friday, February 20, 2009, and Guy Hylton has been ordered to report to the same facility on Friday, March 6, 2009.
More about activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/region6
EPA audio file is available for 30 days at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/audio.htm#audio020509_elkcity
Release date: 02/05/2009
Contact Information: Dave Bary or Anthony Suttice at 214-665-2200 or r6press@epa.gov
(Dallas, Texas – February 5, 2009) Elk City, Oklahoma, City Manager Guy R. Hylton, Jr. and Elk City Supervisor Chick Arthur Little, convicted of violations of the federal Clean Air Act, will serve their sentences at the Federal Prison Camp in Big Spring, Texas.
The two were originally indicted by a federal grand jury on December 19, 2006, for using Elk City inmates to renovate the Rock Island Railroad Depot in Elk City without providing respiratory protection, protective clothing, or taking other required measures used for the removal of asbestos. Asbestos causes a wide range of illnesses, including various forms of cancer, including mesothelioma, and asbestosis, a usually fatal lung disease.
Following a trial, a jury in Oklahoma City found each man guilty of negligent endangerment by allowing the release of asbestos in a way that created a danger of death or serious bodily injury to the inmates who were working for the city as part of a work-release program. Little was additionally convicted of felony false statements related to lying to investigators conducting the criminal investigation which led to his indictment.
Last January, United States District Judge Joe Heaton ordered Hylton to serve six months in federal prison and pay a $15,000 fine. Judge Heaton ordered Little to serve eight months in federal prison, serve two years of supervised release upon release from prison and perform 104 hours of community service in lieu of a fine.
“EPA will continue to vigorously enforce our nation’s environmental laws through a strong enforcement program,” said EPA Special Agent in Charge Warren Amburn. “We must hold those accountable who endanger others and lie to federal officials to cover up their misconduct.”
Both men appealed their convictions to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and learned this week the court issued orders and judgments affirming their convictions and sentences. As a result of the failed appeal and his looming prison sentence, Guy Hylton resigned as Elk City’s Manager effective February 16, 2009.
Chick Arthur Little has been ordered to report to the Federal Prison Camp in Big Spring on Friday, February 20, 2009, and Guy Hylton has been ordered to report to the same facility on Friday, March 6, 2009.
More about activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/region6
EPA audio file is available for 30 days at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/audio.htm#audio020509_elkcity
JFK on Why Secrecy is Anti-Democratic
The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association
President John F. Kennedy
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
New York City, April 27, 1961
Listen to this speech
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen:
I appreciate very much your generous invitation to be here tonight.
You bear heavy responsibilities these days and an article I read some time ago reminded me of how particularly heavily the burdens of present day events bear upon your profession.
You may remember that in 1851 the New York Herald Tribune under the sponsorship and publishing of Horace Greeley, employed as its London correspondent an obscure journalist by the name of Karl Marx.
We are told that foreign correspondent Marx, stone broke, and with a family ill and undernourished, constantly appealed to Greeley and managing editor Charles Dana for an increase in his munificent salary of $5 per installment, a salary which he and Engels ungratefully labeled as the "lousiest petty bourgeois cheating."
But when all his financial appeals were refused, Marx looked around for other means of livelihood and fame, eventually terminating his relationship with the Tribune and devoting his talents full time to the cause that would bequeath the world the seeds of Leninism, Stalinism, revolution and the cold war.
If only this capitalistic New York newspaper had treated him more kindly; if only Marx had remained a foreign correspondent, history might have been different. And I hope all publishers will bear this lesson in mind the next time they receive a poverty-stricken appeal for a small increase in the expense account from an obscure newspaper man.
I have selected as the title of my remarks tonight "The President and the Press." Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded "The President Versus the Press." But those are not my sentiments tonight.
It is true, however, that when a well-known diplomat from another country demanded recently that our State Department repudiate certain newspaper attacks on his colleague it was unnecessary for us to reply that this Administration was not responsible for the press, for the press had already made it clear that it was not responsible for this Administration.
Nevertheless, my purpose here tonight is not to deliver the usual assault on the so-called one party press. On the contrary, in recent months I have rarely heard any complaints about political bias in the press except from a few Republicans. Nor is it my purpose tonight to discuss or defend the televising of Presidential press conferences. I think it is highly beneficial to have some 20,000,000 Americans regularly sit in on these conferences to observe, if I may say so, the incisive, the intelligent and the courteous qualities displayed by your Washington correspondents.
Nor, finally, are these remarks intended to examine the proper degree of privacy which the press should allow to any President and his family.
If in the last few months your White House reporters and photographers have been attending church services with regularity, that has surely done them no harm.
On the other hand, I realize that your staff and wire service photographers may be complaining that they do not enjoy the same green privileges at the local golf courses that they once did.
It is true that my predecessor did not object as I do to pictures of one's golfing skill in action. But neither on the other hand did he ever bean a Secret Service man.
My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors.
I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future--for reducing this threat or living with it--there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security--a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.
This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President--two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.
I
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.
But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.
Today no war has been declared--and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.
If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions--by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security--and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.
For the facts of the matter are that this nation's foes have openly boasted of acquiring through our newspapers information they would otherwise hire agents to acquire through theft, bribery or espionage; that details of this nation's covert preparations to counter the enemy's covert operations have been available to every newspaper reader, friend and foe alike; that the size, the strength, the location and the nature of our forces and weapons, and our plans and strategy for their use, have all been pinpointed in the press and other news media to a degree sufficient to satisfy any foreign power; and that, in at least in one case, the publication of details concerning a secret mechanism whereby satellites were followed required its alteration at the expense of considerable time and money.
The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.
The question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will. But I would be failing in my duty to the nation, in considering all of the responsibilities that we now bear and all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, if I did not commend this problem to your attention, and urge its thoughtful consideration.
On many earlier occasions, I have said--and your newspapers have constantly said--that these are times that appeal to every citizen's sense of sacrifice and self-discipline. They call out to every citizen to weigh his rights and comforts against his obligations to the common good. I cannot now believe that those citizens who serve in the newspaper business consider themselves exempt from that appeal.
I have no intention of establishing a new Office of War Information to govern the flow of news. I am not suggesting any new forms of censorship or any new types of security classifications. I have no easy answer to the dilemma that I have posed, and would not seek to impose it if I had one. But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.
Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: "Is it news?" All I suggest is that you add the question: "Is it in the interest of the national security?" And I hope that every group in America--unions and businessmen and public officials at every level-- will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to the same exacting tests.
And should the press of America consider and recommend the voluntary assumption of specific new steps or machinery, I can assure you that we will cooperate whole-heartedly with those recommendations.
Perhaps there will be no recommendations. Perhaps there is no answer to the dilemma faced by a free and open society in a cold and secret war. In times of peace, any discussion of this subject, and any action that results, are both painful and without precedent. But this is a time of peace and peril which knows no precedent in history.
II
It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second obligation--an obligation which I share. And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people--to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well--the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.
No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.
I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers--I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.
Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed--and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.
This means greater coverage and analysis of international news--for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security--and we intend to do it.
III
It was early in the Seventeenth Century that Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. Now the links between the nations first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world's efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure.
And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03NewspaperPublishers04271961.htm
President John F. Kennedy
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
New York City, April 27, 1961
Listen to this speech
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen:
I appreciate very much your generous invitation to be here tonight.
You bear heavy responsibilities these days and an article I read some time ago reminded me of how particularly heavily the burdens of present day events bear upon your profession.
You may remember that in 1851 the New York Herald Tribune under the sponsorship and publishing of Horace Greeley, employed as its London correspondent an obscure journalist by the name of Karl Marx.
We are told that foreign correspondent Marx, stone broke, and with a family ill and undernourished, constantly appealed to Greeley and managing editor Charles Dana for an increase in his munificent salary of $5 per installment, a salary which he and Engels ungratefully labeled as the "lousiest petty bourgeois cheating."
But when all his financial appeals were refused, Marx looked around for other means of livelihood and fame, eventually terminating his relationship with the Tribune and devoting his talents full time to the cause that would bequeath the world the seeds of Leninism, Stalinism, revolution and the cold war.
If only this capitalistic New York newspaper had treated him more kindly; if only Marx had remained a foreign correspondent, history might have been different. And I hope all publishers will bear this lesson in mind the next time they receive a poverty-stricken appeal for a small increase in the expense account from an obscure newspaper man.
I have selected as the title of my remarks tonight "The President and the Press." Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded "The President Versus the Press." But those are not my sentiments tonight.
It is true, however, that when a well-known diplomat from another country demanded recently that our State Department repudiate certain newspaper attacks on his colleague it was unnecessary for us to reply that this Administration was not responsible for the press, for the press had already made it clear that it was not responsible for this Administration.
Nevertheless, my purpose here tonight is not to deliver the usual assault on the so-called one party press. On the contrary, in recent months I have rarely heard any complaints about political bias in the press except from a few Republicans. Nor is it my purpose tonight to discuss or defend the televising of Presidential press conferences. I think it is highly beneficial to have some 20,000,000 Americans regularly sit in on these conferences to observe, if I may say so, the incisive, the intelligent and the courteous qualities displayed by your Washington correspondents.
Nor, finally, are these remarks intended to examine the proper degree of privacy which the press should allow to any President and his family.
If in the last few months your White House reporters and photographers have been attending church services with regularity, that has surely done them no harm.
On the other hand, I realize that your staff and wire service photographers may be complaining that they do not enjoy the same green privileges at the local golf courses that they once did.
It is true that my predecessor did not object as I do to pictures of one's golfing skill in action. But neither on the other hand did he ever bean a Secret Service man.
My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors.
I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future--for reducing this threat or living with it--there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security--a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.
This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President--two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.
I
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.
But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.
Today no war has been declared--and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.
If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions--by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Nevertheless, every democracy recognizes the necessary restraints of national security--and the question remains whether those restraints need to be more strictly observed if we are to oppose this kind of attack as well as outright invasion.
For the facts of the matter are that this nation's foes have openly boasted of acquiring through our newspapers information they would otherwise hire agents to acquire through theft, bribery or espionage; that details of this nation's covert preparations to counter the enemy's covert operations have been available to every newspaper reader, friend and foe alike; that the size, the strength, the location and the nature of our forces and weapons, and our plans and strategy for their use, have all been pinpointed in the press and other news media to a degree sufficient to satisfy any foreign power; and that, in at least in one case, the publication of details concerning a secret mechanism whereby satellites were followed required its alteration at the expense of considerable time and money.
The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.
The question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will. But I would be failing in my duty to the nation, in considering all of the responsibilities that we now bear and all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, if I did not commend this problem to your attention, and urge its thoughtful consideration.
On many earlier occasions, I have said--and your newspapers have constantly said--that these are times that appeal to every citizen's sense of sacrifice and self-discipline. They call out to every citizen to weigh his rights and comforts against his obligations to the common good. I cannot now believe that those citizens who serve in the newspaper business consider themselves exempt from that appeal.
I have no intention of establishing a new Office of War Information to govern the flow of news. I am not suggesting any new forms of censorship or any new types of security classifications. I have no easy answer to the dilemma that I have posed, and would not seek to impose it if I had one. But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.
Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: "Is it news?" All I suggest is that you add the question: "Is it in the interest of the national security?" And I hope that every group in America--unions and businessmen and public officials at every level-- will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to the same exacting tests.
And should the press of America consider and recommend the voluntary assumption of specific new steps or machinery, I can assure you that we will cooperate whole-heartedly with those recommendations.
Perhaps there will be no recommendations. Perhaps there is no answer to the dilemma faced by a free and open society in a cold and secret war. In times of peace, any discussion of this subject, and any action that results, are both painful and without precedent. But this is a time of peace and peril which knows no precedent in history.
II
It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second obligation--an obligation which I share. And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people--to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well--the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.
No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.
I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers--I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.
Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed--and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants"--but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.
This means greater coverage and analysis of international news--for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security--and we intend to do it.
III
It was early in the Seventeenth Century that Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. Now the links between the nations first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world's efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure.
And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03NewspaperPublishers04271961.htm
USDOJ Press Release: U.S. CHARGES FORMER ACTING BOSS AND 12 OTHER MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES OF THE GENOVESE ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY
United States Attorney
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
February 4, 2009 YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
JANICE OH
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600
FBI
JIM MARGOLIN, MONICA McLEAN
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 384-2720, 2715
U.S. CHARGES FORMER ACTING BOSS AND 12 OTHER MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES OF THE GENOVESE ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY
NEW YORK - Lev L. Dassin, Acting U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joseph Demarest, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, and Raymond W. Kelly, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (NYPD), announced the unsealing today of a 38-count indictment (the Leo indictment) against 12 defendants, including Daniel Leo, the alleged former acting boss, and various members and associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra. The Leo indictment charges the defendants with racketeering and other offenses, including violent extortions of individuals and businesses, loansharking, narcotics trafficking and operation of illegal gambling businesses.
Also announced was the unsealing of a second indictment (the Tassiello indictment), charging Genovese associate Thomas Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” with racketeering, extortion and other charges. Shortly after Tassiello’s arrest today, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the New Jersey residence of Andy Gerardo, a member of the Genovese Organized Crime Family, which was used by members and associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family in connection with their illegal activities.
Anthony Palumbo, Rocco Petrozza, Patsy Aversa, Joseph Petullo, Arthur Boland and Tassiello were arrested this morning at their homes by members of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force, which includes agents of the FBI and detectives of the NYPD. Felice Masullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo surrendered earlier today in Magistrate Court. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph Leo and Vincent Cotona are in federal custody on other charges.
According to the Leo Indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Rocco Petrozza, Felice Masullo, Patsy Aversa, Vincent Cotona, Joseph Leo, Joseph Petullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo participated in racketeering offenses related to the affairs of the Genovese Organized Crime Family. Daniel Leo served as acting boss of the Genovese Family beginning in approximately 2005. During the time he served as acting boss, he supervised racketeering crimes of his own “crew” of Genovese Family members and associates, including Soldier Charles Salzano and associates Joseph Leo and Arthur Boland. Salzano and Joseph Leo are charged with various racketeering offenses, including loansharking and operation of an illegal gambling business.
Additional charges against defendants named in the indictment include making and collecting extortionate loans to small business owners and other individuals, including owners and operators of bartending schools in New York City and New Jersey, and threatening victims with physical harm if they did not repay the loans.
In 2006, Daniel Leo placed long-time Soldier and Acting Capo Anthony Palumbo in charge of the New Jersey operations of the Genovese Family. Palumbo and other New Jersey-based family members and associates under his supervision, including his driver Felice Massulo and Soldier Rocco Petrozza, are charged with, among other offenses, forcibly taking over a small business in Jersey City, N.J., to collect payment on a loanshark loan. Petrozza and associates Patzy Aversa, Vincent Cotona, and Joseph Petullo are charged with extortion of the owners and operators of this same business.
Felice Masullo – who served as Palumbo’s driver and was proposed as a member of the Genovese Family – is charged with his brothers, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo, with racketeering offenses including the trafficking of cocaine and crack cocaine, loansharking, and operating an illegal sports-betting business.
According to the Tassiello indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Beginning in at least 2004, through the date of the indictment, the defendant, Thomas Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” used his status as an associate of the Genovese Organized Crime Family to make a string of extortionate loans to Manhattan-based small business owners and to threaten them with physical violence and other harm when they failed to make prompt repayment of their loans. In one instance, Tassiello took ownership interest in a Manhattan bar after its owner did not keep up with weekly interest payments on a series of loans totaling approximately $100,000.
After Tassiello became aware of a federal investigation into his loansharking operation, he instructed his victims to provide false and misleading information to a federal grand jury and special agents of the FBI.
Tassiello is also charged with the operation of an illegal gambling business that engaged in sports bookmaking and illegal lottery schemes, and the transportation across state lines of stolen property.
Tassiello is charged with two counts of racketeering, six counts of conspiracy to make and collect extortionate loans, one count of interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of operating an unlawful gambling business. If convicted of all the charges contained in the indictment, Tassiello, 61, of New York City, faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.
All of the defendants who were arrested today appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph Leo and Vincent Cotona are expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, at noon.
Mr. Dassin praised the work of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force in the investigation, and added that the investigation is continuing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David B. Massey, Avi Weitzman, John T. Zach and Steve Kwok are in charge of the prosecutions.
The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
February 4, 2009 YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
JANICE OH
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600
FBI
JIM MARGOLIN, MONICA McLEAN
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 384-2720, 2715
U.S. CHARGES FORMER ACTING BOSS AND 12 OTHER MEMBERS, ASSOCIATES OF THE GENOVESE ORGANIZED CRIME FAMILY
NEW YORK - Lev L. Dassin, Acting U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Joseph Demarest, Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, and Raymond W. Kelly, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (NYPD), announced the unsealing today of a 38-count indictment (the Leo indictment) against 12 defendants, including Daniel Leo, the alleged former acting boss, and various members and associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra. The Leo indictment charges the defendants with racketeering and other offenses, including violent extortions of individuals and businesses, loansharking, narcotics trafficking and operation of illegal gambling businesses.
Also announced was the unsealing of a second indictment (the Tassiello indictment), charging Genovese associate Thomas Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” with racketeering, extortion and other charges. Shortly after Tassiello’s arrest today, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the New Jersey residence of Andy Gerardo, a member of the Genovese Organized Crime Family, which was used by members and associates of the Genovese Organized Crime Family in connection with their illegal activities.
Anthony Palumbo, Rocco Petrozza, Patsy Aversa, Joseph Petullo, Arthur Boland and Tassiello were arrested this morning at their homes by members of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force, which includes agents of the FBI and detectives of the NYPD. Felice Masullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo surrendered earlier today in Magistrate Court. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph Leo and Vincent Cotona are in federal custody on other charges.
According to the Leo Indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Rocco Petrozza, Felice Masullo, Patsy Aversa, Vincent Cotona, Joseph Leo, Joseph Petullo, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo participated in racketeering offenses related to the affairs of the Genovese Organized Crime Family. Daniel Leo served as acting boss of the Genovese Family beginning in approximately 2005. During the time he served as acting boss, he supervised racketeering crimes of his own “crew” of Genovese Family members and associates, including Soldier Charles Salzano and associates Joseph Leo and Arthur Boland. Salzano and Joseph Leo are charged with various racketeering offenses, including loansharking and operation of an illegal gambling business.
Additional charges against defendants named in the indictment include making and collecting extortionate loans to small business owners and other individuals, including owners and operators of bartending schools in New York City and New Jersey, and threatening victims with physical harm if they did not repay the loans.
In 2006, Daniel Leo placed long-time Soldier and Acting Capo Anthony Palumbo in charge of the New Jersey operations of the Genovese Family. Palumbo and other New Jersey-based family members and associates under his supervision, including his driver Felice Massulo and Soldier Rocco Petrozza, are charged with, among other offenses, forcibly taking over a small business in Jersey City, N.J., to collect payment on a loanshark loan. Petrozza and associates Patzy Aversa, Vincent Cotona, and Joseph Petullo are charged with extortion of the owners and operators of this same business.
Felice Masullo – who served as Palumbo’s driver and was proposed as a member of the Genovese Family – is charged with his brothers, Anthony Masullo and Angelo Masullo, with racketeering offenses including the trafficking of cocaine and crack cocaine, loansharking, and operating an illegal sports-betting business.
According to the Tassiello indictment, unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Beginning in at least 2004, through the date of the indictment, the defendant, Thomas Tassiello, a/k/a “Tommy,” used his status as an associate of the Genovese Organized Crime Family to make a string of extortionate loans to Manhattan-based small business owners and to threaten them with physical violence and other harm when they failed to make prompt repayment of their loans. In one instance, Tassiello took ownership interest in a Manhattan bar after its owner did not keep up with weekly interest payments on a series of loans totaling approximately $100,000.
After Tassiello became aware of a federal investigation into his loansharking operation, he instructed his victims to provide false and misleading information to a federal grand jury and special agents of the FBI.
Tassiello is also charged with the operation of an illegal gambling business that engaged in sports bookmaking and illegal lottery schemes, and the transportation across state lines of stolen property.
Tassiello is charged with two counts of racketeering, six counts of conspiracy to make and collect extortionate loans, one count of interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of operating an unlawful gambling business. If convicted of all the charges contained in the indictment, Tassiello, 61, of New York City, faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison.
All of the defendants who were arrested today appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge. Daniel Leo, Charles Salzano, Joseph Leo and Vincent Cotona are expected to be arraigned on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, at noon.
Mr. Dassin praised the work of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force in the investigation, and added that the investigation is continuing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David B. Massey, Avi Weitzman, John T. Zach and Steve Kwok are in charge of the prosecutions.
The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Mayor Boles Shows His Behind on State Historic Buildings, Seeking to Protect Tacky St. George Street T-Shirt Shops, Etc. With 99 Year Leases!
JOSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR., Mayor of St. Augustine.
Photo Credit: Greg Travous (and Hans Holbein the Younger)
WILLIAM B. HARRISS, City Mangler
Photo Credit: J.D. Pleasant
This is why downtown merchants backed the election and re-election of JOSSEPH LEROY BOLES, JR. See below.
"Entrepreneurs?"
Don't make me laugh.
Ex-Mayor Len Weeks?
Weeks needs 99-year leases?
That's obscene.
How exquisitely selfish, self-indulgent and rapacious, like a Banana Republic.
How dare these Banana Republicans -- like BOLES and ERROL JONES a/k/a "ERRONEOUS JONES" even think of abusing the public trust for their private profit thattaway.
As Jefferson said, "A public office is a public trust."
So are public lands.
This land is our land.
Not LEN WEEKS.
Not JOE BOLES.
Not WILLIAM HARRISS.
The alternative to BOLESVILLE is a St. Augustine National Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Highway. There is no substitute.
BOLES' own mother supports the park, despite his despicable attempt to hit her with his own peevish gag order. As Maurine Boles said to a mutual friend, despite BOLES' pressures, "I still support the park."
See more on the St. Augustine National Historical Park, National Seashore and National Scenic Coastal Highway further below.
Letter: Plan for buildings conflicts with study
Letter: Plan for buildings conflicts with study
Reed K. Taylor
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/05/09
Editor: I attended last week's St. Johns County delegation meeting and was taken aback -- as I think Senator Jim King was as well -- by St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles' request to allow the city to extend long-term contracts to entrepreneurs wishing to occupy the state buildings recently offered to the University of Florida for stewardship. (He also is asking the state to give the city a 99-year lease on those buildings).
His request is at direct odds with the strategic plan being finalized this week by the UF which offers a seemingly viable plan to build an interpretation center which will then provide a revenue source for UF to rehabilitate and maintain these properties for years to come. I have been closely watching this strategic plan develop during the past year with the input of many St. Augustine residents, vendors, government officials and UF faculty.
I question why Boles took this opportunity to undermine the great effort and time being put into this well thought out plan which is to be presented this week to our area legislators and others across the state. Personally, I would like to see UF have a long-term, high quality, and educational partnership with our historic city rather than sell ourselves out to the highest bidder and possibly be stuck with a tacky T-shirt shop for 99 years.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020509/opinions_020509_022.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Reed K. Taylor
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/05/09
Editor: I attended last week's St. Johns County delegation meeting and was taken aback -- as I think Senator Jim King was as well -- by St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles' request to allow the city to extend long-term contracts to entrepreneurs wishing to occupy the state buildings recently offered to the University of Florida for stewardship. (He also is asking the state to give the city a 99-year lease on those buildings).
His request is at direct odds with the strategic plan being finalized this week by the UF which offers a seemingly viable plan to build an interpretation center which will then provide a revenue source for UF to rehabilitate and maintain these properties for years to come. I have been closely watching this strategic plan develop during the past year with the input of many St. Augustine residents, vendors, government officials and UF faculty.
I question why Boles took this opportunity to undermine the great effort and time being put into this well thought out plan which is to be presented this week to our area legislators and others across the state. Personally, I would like to see UF have a long-term, high quality, and educational partnership with our historic city rather than sell ourselves out to the highest bidder and possibly be stuck with a tacky T-shirt shop for 99 years.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020509/opinions_020509_022.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
USEPA Press Release: Prison Sentences For Dumpnig Sewage in Puerto Rico
EPA Investigations Lead to Prison Sentences for
Two in Puerto Rico
Contact: Michael Ortiz (212) 637-3670, ortiz.michael@epa.gov
(San Juan, P.R. – Feb. 3, 2009) A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation into Clean Water Act violations in Puerto Rico has led to prison sentences for two defendants convicted of engaging in a scheme that involved the dumping of raw sewage into the Jimenez Creek, a tributary of the Espiritu Santo River. Braulio Agosto Vega, his company, Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc., and Juan Agosto Vega were originally indicted in May 2005, by a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico on three counts of violations of the Clean Water Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the act
Juan Agosto Vega, Braulio’s brother, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of $10,000 and 104 hours of community service at a recycling plant. Braulio Agosto Vega and his company, Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc, went to trial in June 2008. On July 24, 2008, a jury found both guilty all four counts of the indictment. Last December, Braulio Agosto Vega was sentenced to two years of imprisonment, a fine of $35, 000 and three years of supervised release with community service. His company was sentenced to three years of probation, a fine of $75,000, and is required to continue emptying overflowing septic tanks in an appropriate manner.
“EPA will not tolerate criminal conduct that is noxious to the environment and people’s health,” said George Pavlou, EPA Acting Regional Administrator. “Violators will be held accountable for their actions and EPA will continue to enforce laws that protect the environment and the people of Puerto Rico.”
EPA worked closely with other federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to form the case around the defendants that ultimately led to their conviction.
The investigation began when EPA’s San Juan office received a letter from a concerned citizen. The letter included a photograph of a truck registered under Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc. dumping raw sewage into Jimenez Creek. An EPA enforcement officer was sent to the site to investigate the claim. EPA, in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, took samples that indicated the body of water had been impacted. FBI located witnesses from the Rio Grade area and gathered testimony.
According to the indictment, from October 2004 through March 2005, a Braulio Agosto Motors Inc. registered truck discharged septic waste into a storm drain that emptied into the Jimenez Creek, a tributary of the Espiritu Santo River. The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority has a water intake for the El Yunque Filtration plant, which serves approximately 80,000 residents, in the river.
The Clean Water Act is a statute that employs a variety of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant discharged into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff.
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcwa.html
# # #
09-012
Note: If a link above doesn't work, please copy and paste the URL into a browser.
View all Region 2 News Releases
Two in Puerto Rico
Contact: Michael Ortiz (212) 637-3670, ortiz.michael@epa.gov
(San Juan, P.R. – Feb. 3, 2009) A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation into Clean Water Act violations in Puerto Rico has led to prison sentences for two defendants convicted of engaging in a scheme that involved the dumping of raw sewage into the Jimenez Creek, a tributary of the Espiritu Santo River. Braulio Agosto Vega, his company, Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc., and Juan Agosto Vega were originally indicted in May 2005, by a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico on three counts of violations of the Clean Water Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the act
Juan Agosto Vega, Braulio’s brother, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison, a fine of $10,000 and 104 hours of community service at a recycling plant. Braulio Agosto Vega and his company, Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc, went to trial in June 2008. On July 24, 2008, a jury found both guilty all four counts of the indictment. Last December, Braulio Agosto Vega was sentenced to two years of imprisonment, a fine of $35, 000 and three years of supervised release with community service. His company was sentenced to three years of probation, a fine of $75,000, and is required to continue emptying overflowing septic tanks in an appropriate manner.
“EPA will not tolerate criminal conduct that is noxious to the environment and people’s health,” said George Pavlou, EPA Acting Regional Administrator. “Violators will be held accountable for their actions and EPA will continue to enforce laws that protect the environment and the people of Puerto Rico.”
EPA worked closely with other federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to form the case around the defendants that ultimately led to their conviction.
The investigation began when EPA’s San Juan office received a letter from a concerned citizen. The letter included a photograph of a truck registered under Braulio Agosto Motors, Inc. dumping raw sewage into Jimenez Creek. An EPA enforcement officer was sent to the site to investigate the claim. EPA, in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, took samples that indicated the body of water had been impacted. FBI located witnesses from the Rio Grade area and gathered testimony.
According to the indictment, from October 2004 through March 2005, a Braulio Agosto Motors Inc. registered truck discharged septic waste into a storm drain that emptied into the Jimenez Creek, a tributary of the Espiritu Santo River. The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority has a water intake for the El Yunque Filtration plant, which serves approximately 80,000 residents, in the river.
The Clean Water Act is a statute that employs a variety of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant discharged into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff.
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/lcwa.html
# # #
09-012
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View all Region 2 News Releases
Manuel asks again to delay trial
Manuel asks again to delay trial
April 6 opening asked to be pushed to July
By RICHARD PRIOR
richard.prior@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/03/09
Attorneys for suspended St. Johns County Commissioner Tom Manuel have asked for another delay in his bribery trial, citing numerous problems with material provided by the prosecution.
The motion, filed Monday by Jacksonville attorneys William J. Sheppard and D. Gray Thomas, asks that the April 6 opening be delayed, preferably until July.
Sheppard and Thomas noted in the motion that the prosecutor doesn't object to another continuance because she has another trial set to begin April 13.
Manuel, 63, was indicted Oct. 16 on two counts of bribery following an 18-month investigation by the FBI.
The federal indictment charges him with soliciting and accepting bribes of $10,000 in April and $50,000 in June.
Court records indicate that Manuel's recorded conversations were with Atlantic Beach developer Bruce Robbins and his attorney, George McClure of St. Augustine, who were acting as government informants.
If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
"Numerous and voluminous documents" turned over by the state - which nonetheless included incomplete, missing and "misleading" information - have delayed Sheppard's and Thomas's ability to mount a defense, according to the motion.
For instance, the attorneys said, the prosecution turned over "approximately" 24 discs containing audio or visual conversations that allegedly implicate Manuel in the bribery scheme.
Five of those discs "could not be opened in house or by an outside audio/visual company," the defense claimed. "There were 3 more that could be opened, but not duplicated."
Another disc - of an April 29, 2008, St. Johns County Commission meeting - was "noticeably absent" from the material originally turned over by the state, the motion read.
A review of the discs, which were given to the defense on Dec. 2, "indicated that there were potentially at least 4 missing discs, with an unknown number of missing recordings as several discs contain multiple recordings," the defense charged.
The amount of material, and the manner in which it was submitted by the prosecution, has made it "exceedingly difficult to review, organize, categorize and digest," according to the motion.
Sheppard and Thomas also objected to the submission of "copies of transcripts of selected conversations."
"It should be noted that these transcripts are only partial (as in the transcript is not of the entire recording start to finish) and contain various inaccuracies. ...," according to the motion.
The defense also charged that some information provided by the state "can be misleading."
A review of the recordings indicated that a "specific event was to take place," the motion read. "There was no recording of said event or any recording of the cancellation of said event."
The government allegedly said later that the recorder wasn't working.
"Additionally," the motion said, "the Government also advised at that time that three of the transcripts that were provided bore labels with the wrong dates."
Sheppard and Thomas also asked the court for a "temporary enlargement" of Manuel's travel restrictions so he could attend the christening of his grandchildren in New Canaan, Conn., between April 3 and 13.
Manuel's travel is presently restricted to Florida.
Gov. Charlie Crist on Dec. 23 appointed Ponte Vedra Beach resident Phillip J. Mays to serve during Manuel's suspension.
Mays was sworn in Jan. 6.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020309/news_020309_035.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
April 6 opening asked to be pushed to July
By RICHARD PRIOR
richard.prior@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 02/03/09
Attorneys for suspended St. Johns County Commissioner Tom Manuel have asked for another delay in his bribery trial, citing numerous problems with material provided by the prosecution.
The motion, filed Monday by Jacksonville attorneys William J. Sheppard and D. Gray Thomas, asks that the April 6 opening be delayed, preferably until July.
Sheppard and Thomas noted in the motion that the prosecutor doesn't object to another continuance because she has another trial set to begin April 13.
Manuel, 63, was indicted Oct. 16 on two counts of bribery following an 18-month investigation by the FBI.
The federal indictment charges him with soliciting and accepting bribes of $10,000 in April and $50,000 in June.
Court records indicate that Manuel's recorded conversations were with Atlantic Beach developer Bruce Robbins and his attorney, George McClure of St. Augustine, who were acting as government informants.
If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
"Numerous and voluminous documents" turned over by the state - which nonetheless included incomplete, missing and "misleading" information - have delayed Sheppard's and Thomas's ability to mount a defense, according to the motion.
For instance, the attorneys said, the prosecution turned over "approximately" 24 discs containing audio or visual conversations that allegedly implicate Manuel in the bribery scheme.
Five of those discs "could not be opened in house or by an outside audio/visual company," the defense claimed. "There were 3 more that could be opened, but not duplicated."
Another disc - of an April 29, 2008, St. Johns County Commission meeting - was "noticeably absent" from the material originally turned over by the state, the motion read.
A review of the discs, which were given to the defense on Dec. 2, "indicated that there were potentially at least 4 missing discs, with an unknown number of missing recordings as several discs contain multiple recordings," the defense charged.
The amount of material, and the manner in which it was submitted by the prosecution, has made it "exceedingly difficult to review, organize, categorize and digest," according to the motion.
Sheppard and Thomas also objected to the submission of "copies of transcripts of selected conversations."
"It should be noted that these transcripts are only partial (as in the transcript is not of the entire recording start to finish) and contain various inaccuracies. ...," according to the motion.
The defense also charged that some information provided by the state "can be misleading."
A review of the recordings indicated that a "specific event was to take place," the motion read. "There was no recording of said event or any recording of the cancellation of said event."
The government allegedly said later that the recorder wasn't working.
"Additionally," the motion said, "the Government also advised at that time that three of the transcripts that were provided bore labels with the wrong dates."
Sheppard and Thomas also asked the court for a "temporary enlargement" of Manuel's travel restrictions so he could attend the christening of his grandchildren in New Canaan, Conn., between April 3 and 13.
Manuel's travel is presently restricted to Florida.
Gov. Charlie Crist on Dec. 23 appointed Ponte Vedra Beach resident Phillip J. Mays to serve during Manuel's suspension.
Mays was sworn in Jan. 6.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020309/news_020309_035.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
Monday, February 02, 2009
Sense of community growing from Plaza event
Sense of community growing from Plaza event
By DEE LOVELL
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/01/09
It's not easy to explain why St. Augustine's inauguration celebration on Jan. 20 meant so much to those who came to the Plaza de la Constitucion in the freezing cold. You could palpably sense that it was important to them. They seemed extremely proud and happy to be part of the nation's big day, Barack Obama's day, and to experience it as a citizenry coming together to share that pride in their hometown. Many said so afterward.
You could see they felt it as they experienced the solemnity of the color guard, saluting the flag, the invocation, and the inspiring words of Mayor Joe Boles who read the city's proclamation designating "Coming Together..." Day in St. Augustine.
They heard the irony in young "Outta Sight" blind students singing "America the Beautiful" for those of us who could not only see but also hear the message in that anthem.
They felt the moving words of Elizabeth Roth singing John Lennon's "Imagine" -- which is how St. Augustine's celebration started. It was literally imagined by Stetson Kennedy and Sandra Parks-Kennedy, who hailed the greatness of our first black president and said to a friend, who shared their belief, that something should be done to honor Obama in our hometown.
A jubilant long-time resident noted that the spirit of the day expressed a sense of community that many believed St. Augustine had lost. In past years, she said, locals had coffee together at the St. George Pharmacy (now the Bunnery), hailed one another doing business at the courthouse (now Casa Monica), socialized on sidewalks, or shared joys and sorrows when visiting old Flagler Hospital on Marine Street (near the Council on Aging).
The gathering showed us that our "community" is no longer defined by the buildings residents frequent, but rather by a sense of shared hope and commitment that should not depend on how long one's lived here, one's church, race, job, who one knows, what one does for a living, or the color of one's skin. Community is now growing up with Obama, as we express our gratitude that America has shown the world we are finally trying to live up to our ideals.
Many citizens left the comfort of their homes for the camaraderie of community that day, a day to believe in racial opportunity and social justice that is long overdue.
Many who came recalled civil rights protests and arrests some 40 years ago on nearby St. George Street.
They were there for Obama, the man this writer heard speak at the 2005 Herblock Foundation Awards in Washington, D.C. A man not then running for president, but a U.S. senator with words of principle, purpose and vision -- a new voice and face of America.
Maybe with him leading us in national tolerance, we'll usher in a new era of multi-cultural unity in this city, this county and this country.
The intangible spirit that brought people out was personified in the young black mother who arrived hours beforehand with her children, explaining she had to take the early bus from Jacksonville because the next one would have made her late. They were the first to arrive, carrying a rolled-up blanket to sit on and delighting in helping pass out souvenir flags.
Then, after Sylvia Howard's thrilling rendition of "God Bless America," one final dominant image unexpectedly concluded the event on another human note. A well-dressed young woman strolled over and sat on a concrete bench next to a bearded, bundled-up homeless man. They talked and listened together for half an hour in animated, friendly conversation. How often do you see that in the former Slave Market in the Plaza?
*
Dee Lovell is a former writer and editor for The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun. She coordinated St. Augustine's inauguration celebration, "Coming Together..." along with Barbara B. Allen and Robin Nadeau, whom, she said, were indispensably there for every phone call, meeting and crisis, and Judith Seraphin, who with her crew did the great Old-Glorious Plaza decorations. Lovell has lived in St. Augustine for eight years.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/020109/opinions_020109_058.shtml
© The St. Augustine Record
By DEE LOVELL
St. Augustine
Publication Date: 02/01/09
It's not easy to explain why St. Augustine's inauguration celebration on Jan. 20 meant so much to those who came to the Plaza de la Constitucion in the freezing cold. You could palpably sense that it was important to them. They seemed extremely proud and happy to be part of the nation's big day, Barack Obama's day, and to experience it as a citizenry coming together to share that pride in their hometown. Many said so afterward.
You could see they felt it as they experienced the solemnity of the color guard, saluting the flag, the invocation, and the inspiring words of Mayor Joe Boles who read the city's proclamation designating "Coming Together..." Day in St. Augustine.
They heard the irony in young "Outta Sight" blind students singing "America the Beautiful" for those of us who could not only see but also hear the message in that anthem.
They felt the moving words of Elizabeth Roth singing John Lennon's "Imagine" -- which is how St. Augustine's celebration started. It was literally imagined by Stetson Kennedy and Sandra Parks-Kennedy, who hailed the greatness of our first black president and said to a friend, who shared their belief, that something should be done to honor Obama in our hometown.
A jubilant long-time resident noted that the spirit of the day expressed a sense of community that many believed St. Augustine had lost. In past years, she said, locals had coffee together at the St. George Pharmacy (now the Bunnery), hailed one another doing business at the courthouse (now Casa Monica), socialized on sidewalks, or shared joys and sorrows when visiting old Flagler Hospital on Marine Street (near the Council on Aging).
The gathering showed us that our "community" is no longer defined by the buildings residents frequent, but rather by a sense of shared hope and commitment that should not depend on how long one's lived here, one's church, race, job, who one knows, what one does for a living, or the color of one's skin. Community is now growing up with Obama, as we express our gratitude that America has shown the world we are finally trying to live up to our ideals.
Many citizens left the comfort of their homes for the camaraderie of community that day, a day to believe in racial opportunity and social justice that is long overdue.
Many who came recalled civil rights protests and arrests some 40 years ago on nearby St. George Street.
They were there for Obama, the man this writer heard speak at the 2005 Herblock Foundation Awards in Washington, D.C. A man not then running for president, but a U.S. senator with words of principle, purpose and vision -- a new voice and face of America.
Maybe with him leading us in national tolerance, we'll usher in a new era of multi-cultural unity in this city, this county and this country.
The intangible spirit that brought people out was personified in the young black mother who arrived hours beforehand with her children, explaining she had to take the early bus from Jacksonville because the next one would have made her late. They were the first to arrive, carrying a rolled-up blanket to sit on and delighting in helping pass out souvenir flags.
Then, after Sylvia Howard's thrilling rendition of "God Bless America," one final dominant image unexpectedly concluded the event on another human note. A well-dressed young woman strolled over and sat on a concrete bench next to a bearded, bundled-up homeless man. They talked and listened together for half an hour in animated, friendly conversation. How often do you see that in the former Slave Market in the Plaza?
*
Dee Lovell is a former writer and editor for The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun. She coordinated St. Augustine's inauguration celebration, "Coming Together..." along with Barbara B. Allen and Robin Nadeau, whom, she said, were indispensably there for every phone call, meeting and crisis, and Judith Seraphin, who with her crew did the great Old-Glorious Plaza decorations. Lovell has lived in St. Augustine for eight years.
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USDOJ Press Release: Another Racist Convicted of Hate Crimes After Obama's Victory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2 , 2009 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
FINAL DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO ANTI-OBAMA ASSAULTS
Ralph Nicoletti Admits Targeting African-Americans in Staten Island, N.Y., after President Obama’s Election Victory
WASHINGTON - Ralph Nicoletti pleaded guilty in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court today before U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon to committing three assaults targeting African-American residents in Staten Island, N.Y., on the night of President Barack Obama’s election victory. Nicoletti was the last of four defendants to plead guilty in the federal prosecution stemming from the attacks. The other three defendants – Bryan Garaventa, Michael Contreras and Brian Carranza – previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit the hate crime assaults and each face sentences of up to 10 years in prison. As part of his plea, Nicoletti has agreed to a sentence of 12 years, subject to the court’s approval.
The guilty plea was announced by Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.
At the plea proceeding, Nicoletti admitted that on Nov. 4, 2008, the night of the presidential election, the defendants decided to assault African-Americans in Staten Island after President Obama was declared the winner of the election. The defendants targeted African-Americans believing that they had voted for President Obama. Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten Island, a predominantly African-American neighborhood, where they came upon an African-American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teenager with a metal pipe and Garaventa hit him with a collapsible police baton.
Nicoletti then drove to the Port Richmond section of Staten Island, where the defendants assaulted an unidentified African-American man. During that assault, Garaventa tripped the victim and pushed him to the ground.
The third assault was against an individual whom the defendants mistakenly believed was African-American. The plan was for Contreras to hit the victim with the police baton as the defendants drove by him. Instead, Nicoletti deliberately drove his car into the victim’s body. The victim was thrown onto the hood of the car and hit the front windshield, smashing it. The victim was seriously injured and remained in a coma for several weeks after the attack.
“This successful prosecution sends a clear message that racially-motivated acts of violence targeted at those who are exercising their right to vote are intolerable and will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General King. “It is a tragedy that these crimes occur at all, but the Department of Justice will remain vigilant in our efforts to combat hate crimes, as they tear at the very fabric of our great nation.”
“The conduct of the defendants is shocking and deplorable,” stated U.S. Attorney Campbell. “On a night of historic significance, these four angry men assaulted their victims in an attempt to punish them for exercising a fundamental right of all Americans – the right to vote. Those who commit such crimes will be swiftly apprehended, prosecuted and punished. We are grateful for our partnership with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the New York City Police Department, which has been vital to the success of this case, and I particularly wish to thank the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance in this matter.”
“The crimes these defendants have now admitted to were violent assaults that in one case nearly killed a man,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Demarest of the New York Field Office. “In attempting to intimidate voters, the defendants also violated the victims’ civil rights in a way that was an attack on the democratic process. These were serious crimes that prompted the serious response the FBI will always bring to bear in civil rights enforcement.”
“It was important to make certain that those who seriously injured individuals, based on their race, did not escape justice,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. “NYPD Inspector Michael J. Osgood, Commanding Officer of the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, had the foresight to assign a special team on Election Night until 4 a.m. the next morning. As a result, his investigators were in position to respond quickly to the bias attacks as reports of them began to emerge. Detectives located an eyewitness to one of the attacks, and their subsequent distribution of flyers in the Rosebank area of Staten Island over three days led to the first major break in the case. I also want to thank the FBI agents who helped, and the federal prosecutors who succeeded in winning the guilty pleas.”
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pamela K. Chen and Margo K. Brodie, and Department of Justice Special Litigation Counsel Kristy Parker.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2 , 2009 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
FINAL DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO ANTI-OBAMA ASSAULTS
Ralph Nicoletti Admits Targeting African-Americans in Staten Island, N.Y., after President Obama’s Election Victory
WASHINGTON - Ralph Nicoletti pleaded guilty in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court today before U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon to committing three assaults targeting African-American residents in Staten Island, N.Y., on the night of President Barack Obama’s election victory. Nicoletti was the last of four defendants to plead guilty in the federal prosecution stemming from the attacks. The other three defendants – Bryan Garaventa, Michael Contreras and Brian Carranza – previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit the hate crime assaults and each face sentences of up to 10 years in prison. As part of his plea, Nicoletti has agreed to a sentence of 12 years, subject to the court’s approval.
The guilty plea was announced by Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.
At the plea proceeding, Nicoletti admitted that on Nov. 4, 2008, the night of the presidential election, the defendants decided to assault African-Americans in Staten Island after President Obama was declared the winner of the election. The defendants targeted African-Americans believing that they had voted for President Obama. Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten Island, a predominantly African-American neighborhood, where they came upon an African-American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teenager with a metal pipe and Garaventa hit him with a collapsible police baton.
Nicoletti then drove to the Port Richmond section of Staten Island, where the defendants assaulted an unidentified African-American man. During that assault, Garaventa tripped the victim and pushed him to the ground.
The third assault was against an individual whom the defendants mistakenly believed was African-American. The plan was for Contreras to hit the victim with the police baton as the defendants drove by him. Instead, Nicoletti deliberately drove his car into the victim’s body. The victim was thrown onto the hood of the car and hit the front windshield, smashing it. The victim was seriously injured and remained in a coma for several weeks after the attack.
“This successful prosecution sends a clear message that racially-motivated acts of violence targeted at those who are exercising their right to vote are intolerable and will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General King. “It is a tragedy that these crimes occur at all, but the Department of Justice will remain vigilant in our efforts to combat hate crimes, as they tear at the very fabric of our great nation.”
“The conduct of the defendants is shocking and deplorable,” stated U.S. Attorney Campbell. “On a night of historic significance, these four angry men assaulted their victims in an attempt to punish them for exercising a fundamental right of all Americans – the right to vote. Those who commit such crimes will be swiftly apprehended, prosecuted and punished. We are grateful for our partnership with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the New York City Police Department, which has been vital to the success of this case, and I particularly wish to thank the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance in this matter.”
“The crimes these defendants have now admitted to were violent assaults that in one case nearly killed a man,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Demarest of the New York Field Office. “In attempting to intimidate voters, the defendants also violated the victims’ civil rights in a way that was an attack on the democratic process. These were serious crimes that prompted the serious response the FBI will always bring to bear in civil rights enforcement.”
“It was important to make certain that those who seriously injured individuals, based on their race, did not escape justice,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. “NYPD Inspector Michael J. Osgood, Commanding Officer of the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, had the foresight to assign a special team on Election Night until 4 a.m. the next morning. As a result, his investigators were in position to respond quickly to the bias attacks as reports of them began to emerge. Detectives located an eyewitness to one of the attacks, and their subsequent distribution of flyers in the Rosebank area of Staten Island over three days led to the first major break in the case. I also want to thank the FBI agents who helped, and the federal prosecutors who succeeded in winning the guilty pleas.”
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Pamela K. Chen and Margo K. Brodie, and Department of Justice Special Litigation Counsel Kristy Parker.
Citing 23.5 Hours of Recordings, Republican County Commission Chair THOMAS G. MANUEL AGAIN Asks to Postpone Bribery Trial
The motion says the U.S. Attorney does not oppose the delay, partly based in complexity and partly due to three family christnings of his grandchildren in CT. MANUEL's lawyer states that the task of defense is daunting, as one would expect with 23.5 hours of audio and video tecordings of Republican County Commission Chairman THOMAS G. MANUEL. MANUEL's lawyer suggests trial be delayed until June or July.
USDOJ Press Release: FORMER ABRAMOFF LOBBYIST PLEADS GUILTY TO CRIMES -- ANOTHER CORRUPT D.C. REPUBLICAN HEADS TO FEDERAL PEN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AT
JANUARY 30, 2009 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
FORMER LOBBYIST PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT HONEST SERVICES FRAUD
WASHINGTON – A former lobbyist pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to commit honest services fraud, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced.
Todd A. Boulanger, 37, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts in the District of Columbia. According to court documents, Boulanger worked as a lobbyist from 1999 through 2004 with Jack Abramoff and others. Boulanger, Abramoff, and other lobbyists working with them, sought to advance the interests of groups and companies they represented by lobbying federal legislative and executive branch officials. According to court documents, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff and others established contacts with federal legislative and executive branch officials who could use their influence and positions to take official actions favorable to Boulanger and the other lobbyists. After establishing contacts with certain public officials, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff, and others offered and gave numerous things of value to these public officials in an effort to reward them for actions they had taken, to influence the public officials in their official actions, and to make them more receptive to requests for official actions in the future.
Boulanger admitted that the things of value he and others provided as part of this conspiracy included all-expenses-paid travel, tens of thousands of dollars-worth of tickets to professional sporting events, concerts and other events, and frequent and expensive meals and drinks at Washington, D.C.-area restaurants and bars. According to court documents, the public officials, in turn, agreed to take and took favorable official actions, which included the insertion or protection of legislative appropriations; the insertion, protection, removal or prevention of legislative amendments; and lobbying by the public officials of other legislative and executive branch officials to take or abstain from taking official action. According to court documents, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff and others attempted to conceal their practice of providing things of value to public officials.
Specifically, according to the plea agreement, Boulanger sought the assistance of a staff member who worked on the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. One of Boulanger’s clients was an equipment rental company, on whose behalf Boulanger and another lobbyist, James Hirni, sought to have two legislative amendments inserted into the Federal Highway Bill in 2003. Boulanger admitted that, with his knowledge and approval, Hirni and another individual provided an all-expenses-paid trip on Oct. 18 and 19, 2003, to game one of the Baseball World Series in New York City to the committee staff member and to Trevor Blackann, a former staff member to a U.S. Senator. On Oct. 22, 2003, Boulanger and Hirni provided information about the amendments they were seeking to the committee staff member and Blackann. Later, after one of the amendments had been inserted into the Senate version of the Federal Highway Bill, Boulanger, Hirni, Blackann, the committee staff member and another individual took steps to protect that amendment.
Boulanger also admitted that he and others provided a stream of things of value to a different Senate staff member in order to influence that individual to take official action favorable to Boulanger’s lobbying firm and one of Abramoff’s Native American tribal clients. From March 2002 through March 2004, Boulanger and others provided more than $25,000 worth of tickets, meals and drinks to the Senate staff member. During the same time period, the Senate staff member provided and agreed to provide official actions sought by Boulanger and others on repeated occasions. In addition, Boulanger admitted that he provided more than $10,000 worth of tickets, meals and drinks to the legislative director for a U.S. Senator. Boulanger admitted he met the legislative director on July 16, 2002, and provided the things of value for 20 months following their first meeting.
The case is part of the ongoing investigation into the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January 2006 to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, honest services fraud and tax evasion. Abramoff was sentenced in September 2008 to 48 months in prison and is cooperating in the investigation. Both Hirni and Blackann have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme and are cooperating with the investigation. In all, seventeen individuals, including lobbyists and public officials, have pleaded guilty, been convicted at trial, or are awaiting trial as a result of the investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys M. Kendall Day and Peter C. Sprung of the Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. The investigation is being conducted by the FBI.
JANUARY 30, 2009 (202) 514-2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
FORMER LOBBYIST PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT HONEST SERVICES FRAUD
WASHINGTON – A former lobbyist pleaded guilty today to conspiring with others to commit honest services fraud, Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin of the Criminal Division announced.
Todd A. Boulanger, 37, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts in the District of Columbia. According to court documents, Boulanger worked as a lobbyist from 1999 through 2004 with Jack Abramoff and others. Boulanger, Abramoff, and other lobbyists working with them, sought to advance the interests of groups and companies they represented by lobbying federal legislative and executive branch officials. According to court documents, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff and others established contacts with federal legislative and executive branch officials who could use their influence and positions to take official actions favorable to Boulanger and the other lobbyists. After establishing contacts with certain public officials, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff, and others offered and gave numerous things of value to these public officials in an effort to reward them for actions they had taken, to influence the public officials in their official actions, and to make them more receptive to requests for official actions in the future.
Boulanger admitted that the things of value he and others provided as part of this conspiracy included all-expenses-paid travel, tens of thousands of dollars-worth of tickets to professional sporting events, concerts and other events, and frequent and expensive meals and drinks at Washington, D.C.-area restaurants and bars. According to court documents, the public officials, in turn, agreed to take and took favorable official actions, which included the insertion or protection of legislative appropriations; the insertion, protection, removal or prevention of legislative amendments; and lobbying by the public officials of other legislative and executive branch officials to take or abstain from taking official action. According to court documents, Boulanger admitted that he, Abramoff and others attempted to conceal their practice of providing things of value to public officials.
Specifically, according to the plea agreement, Boulanger sought the assistance of a staff member who worked on the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. One of Boulanger’s clients was an equipment rental company, on whose behalf Boulanger and another lobbyist, James Hirni, sought to have two legislative amendments inserted into the Federal Highway Bill in 2003. Boulanger admitted that, with his knowledge and approval, Hirni and another individual provided an all-expenses-paid trip on Oct. 18 and 19, 2003, to game one of the Baseball World Series in New York City to the committee staff member and to Trevor Blackann, a former staff member to a U.S. Senator. On Oct. 22, 2003, Boulanger and Hirni provided information about the amendments they were seeking to the committee staff member and Blackann. Later, after one of the amendments had been inserted into the Senate version of the Federal Highway Bill, Boulanger, Hirni, Blackann, the committee staff member and another individual took steps to protect that amendment.
Boulanger also admitted that he and others provided a stream of things of value to a different Senate staff member in order to influence that individual to take official action favorable to Boulanger’s lobbying firm and one of Abramoff’s Native American tribal clients. From March 2002 through March 2004, Boulanger and others provided more than $25,000 worth of tickets, meals and drinks to the Senate staff member. During the same time period, the Senate staff member provided and agreed to provide official actions sought by Boulanger and others on repeated occasions. In addition, Boulanger admitted that he provided more than $10,000 worth of tickets, meals and drinks to the legislative director for a U.S. Senator. Boulanger admitted he met the legislative director on July 16, 2002, and provided the things of value for 20 months following their first meeting.
The case is part of the ongoing investigation into the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January 2006 to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, honest services fraud and tax evasion. Abramoff was sentenced in September 2008 to 48 months in prison and is cooperating in the investigation. Both Hirni and Blackann have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme and are cooperating with the investigation. In all, seventeen individuals, including lobbyists and public officials, have pleaded guilty, been convicted at trial, or are awaiting trial as a result of the investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by trial attorneys M. Kendall Day and Peter C. Sprung of the Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief William M. Welch II. The investigation is being conducted by the FBI.
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