What exactly does Wanda Halbert's best friend (Toni Blankenship) do for a living, that she forgot she was given two thousand dollars? Unless she's a rapper or a cashier at the Med....LOL. She pays more attention to large sums of money than that. Even a millionaire doesn't lay that kind of money around. She's an okay looking young lady (2nd. R), but she's no Melissa Ford. So I don't think she's in the habit of men giving her thousands of dollars with no strings attached. I would say probably her most profitable pastime is being Wanda Halbert's best friend. I'm no fortune teller, but I'm not crazy either. Wanda was trying to cover her tracks, but she didn't do a very good job. She took Ms. Blankenship along as the bag lady in this caper. So if anything happens she could say "I didn't take the money she did." I don't think the jury is going to believe her, unless they're made up solely of people who voted for her in her district. I don't think Bobo the clown was on the grand jury. If you believe that, I have some land for sale. See if you believe them:http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2007/oct/31/jury-tracks-2000-hot-potato/
Builder: Halbert saw the money
ReplyDeletePayment part of probe into city school bidding practices
By Marc Perrusquia (Contact)
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Kirby Salton pulled out two stacks of cash -- $2,000 altogether -- and handed it to the woman standing before him.
She, in turn, was to pass it to school board member Wanda Halbert as a campaign contribution.
To Salton, a minority contractor who was in the running for a multimillion-dollar Memphis City Schools construction contract, the arrangement seemed odd
After all, he claims, Halbert was right there -- right beside the woman taking the money.
According to Salton, another politician was present, too: then-County Commissioner Bruce Thompson, who, Salton said, had arranged the 2004 meeting.
Now, as a federal grand jury investigates the transaction as part of a larger probe of construction bidding practices at Memphis City Schools, Salton says he wants it clear:
He was used -- as minority contractors often are when big firms go after school contracts -- and he's cooperating with federal investigators because it's the right thing to do.
"Bruce Thompson directed the whole thing,'' Salton told The Commercial Appeal. "He said Wanda's campaign was in financial trouble. She needed the money. He instructed me to make sure it was in cash.''
Just last month, Halbert amended her 2004 campaign report on file with the Shelby County Election Commission, declaring that her campaign had received an unreported $2,000 contribution from Thompson and Salton that year. Halbert filed the amendment on Oct. 19 -- one day after FBI agents questioned her.
She insists in the letter that she had never known of the campaign donation -- suggesting it may have been stolen -- a point she reiterated last week in a phone interview.
"I'm telling you he's absolutely 100 percent lying,'' Halbert said of Salton's allegation that she was present when the money changed hands.
"I'm not sure what he's trying to do, but he's not telling the truth.''
Thompson did not respond to two messages left on his cell phone. His attorney, Leslie Ballin, said Salton's story is "not consistent with the truth." He declined to elaborate.
An East Memphis Republican, Thompson is at the center of a secret grand jury probe that became public knowledge last month when city school administrators received subpoenas seeking bid documents and other records related to 14 building projects launched between 2000 and 2004.
In all, at least seven witnesses have been called before the grand jury, including Halbert, City Council Chairman Tom Marshall, and former school board members Sara Lewis, Hubon Sandridge and Willie Brooks.
The probe follows a newspaper investigation that found Thompson, as a sitting commissioner, received at least $200,000 in consulting fees in 2004 and 2005 to help a company win a city schools construction contract.
County commissioners have no direct say on city school construction projects, but do vote on long-range building plans involving the district.
Thompson was hired by H&M Construction of Jackson, Tenn., to help it win a $46.7 million contract to build new schools at Manassas High, White Station Middle and Binghamton Elementary, now renamed Dr. William Herbert Brewster Elementary School.
In an interview last winter, H&M president Jim Campbell said he hired Thompson after his firm failed to win the three-school contract in an initial round of bidding in early 2004. Learning that his firm would need minority participation to be successful, Campbell said he was introduced to Thompson as someone with the capacity to line up key local players.
Though minority participation wasn't a selection criteria, the reality of including local participation is reflected in bid documents and school board minutes sent to the grand jury.
"MCS should keep as much income (as possible) in Memphis and Shelby County,'' school board member Patrice Robinson is quoted in minutes of a June 3, 2004, meeting.
Inman Construction Corp. and its minority partner originally won the three-school contract, but the board reopened bidding after receiving complaints about Inman's work on other school projects. By fall 2004, H&M had Thompson on board along with a local minority partner -- Kirby Salton.
Now 37, Salton said he was nurturing his young construction firm when Thompson courted him and helped him sign on with H&M.
He said Thompson wooed him with boasts of his power -- "Part of his spiel was that he played tennis with (FedEx founder) Fred Smith,'' Salton recalled. Salton said Thompson told him his wife inherited an heating, ventilation and air conditioning firm and that he could relate to the challenges faced by minority- and women-owned businesses.
"He said he knew what it was like to be a minority contractor,'' Salton said. "Bruce played into that.''
That fall, after the bid process reopened in September, H&M came up short again -- the firm scored second among seven bidders -- yet won the endorsement of a city schools evaluation team on Oct. 29 after the leading bidder received a couple of bad references. Shortly after that, Salton recalled, Thompson set up a meeting with Halbert.
Bid documents prohibit any "kickbacks or inducements" or any lobbying of decision makers before a final vote, and Salton said he never discussed the pending contract with Halbert.
Nonetheless, with the Nov. 2 election a couple days off, Thompson emphasized the need to give Halbert a campaign donation -- in cash, Salton alleges.
"It would have been easier for me to pay with a check. ... I was just doing what I was told,'' he said.
Salton said the meeting was attended by himself, Thompson, Halbert and LaTonia "Toni" Blankenship -- a Halbert associate who also was called before the grand jury last week. A recent Shelby County Democratic Party executive committee member, Blankenship told a reporter she accepted $2,000 cash from Salton but that Halbert never knew of the money, which was later lost or stolen.
Salton said that isn't true; Halbert "was right there" when he passed the money to Blankenship, he said. "Wanda knew what that meeting was for," he said.
Salton said he considered the donation legal because Thompson told him it was. State campaign finance laws limit an individual to giving no more than $1,000 to a candidate for a general election.
"He told me I could donate a thousand and my wife could donate a thousand,'' Salton said.
Faced with stiff competition from former city attorney Robert Spence and Kenneth Whalum Jr., Halbert raised $30,530 over three days in late October and early November, her campaign report shows.
A little more than a month after the election -- on Dec. 6, 2004 -- the school board picked H&M over six competitors, winning support from Halbert and her colleagues on an 8-0 vote.
TIMELINE
Spring 2004: Inman Construction wins a bid to build three new city schools; bidding is later reopened following complaints about past work.
Sept. 2004: A new request for proposals is sent out to bidders.
Oct. 27-29, 2004: An evaluation committee picks H&M over six competitors despite initial scores that had H&M ranked second.
Oct.-Nov., 2004: H&M minority partner Kirby Salton passes a $2,000 cash contribution to school board member Wanda Halbert's campaign -- a donation she says she never got or knew of.
Dec. 6, 2004: Halbert and her colleagues on the school board vote 8-0 to award the contract to H&M.
Oct. 30-31, 2007: A federal grand jury calls witnesses to review then-County Commissioner Bruce Thompson's role in the H&M contract and surrounding campaign contributions.
-Marc Perrusquia: 529-2545
This story is not getting much media attention for some reason. I think this is going to come up again after the first of the year. Then we'll have another sitting councilperson under indictment. When do the new ethic resolutions take effect?
ReplyDeleteThe Grand Jury investigation is ongoing.
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