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Columbus
Dispatch
FBI
agent details downfall of 2 Ohio ex-legislators
Presentation
was part of seminar on ethics laws
By
Jim Siegel
Tuesday
December 17, 2013
The
FBI special agent in charge of investigating public corruption in
Columbus explained to more than 100 legislators, lobbyists and
legislative lawyers why two former legislators are in prison, and he
said his group is still on the lookout.
After
explaining what led to the downfall of former Reps. W. Carlton
Weddington of Columbus and Clayton Luckie of Dayton, Special Agent
Jeffrey Williams made it clear that he and his agents are always
available to listen and would keep informants’ identities
confidential. Public officials selling their offices can lead to the
“demise of society,” he said.
The
FBI did not randomly target Weddington, Williams said, pointing to a
Dispatch story that included accusations of pay-to-play, and to
emails.
Williams
highlighted a 2009 email in which Weddington told a payday-lending
lobbyist that if the lobbyist didn’t come through with some
“serious cheese,” then he wanted a suite to an upcoming Cleveland
Cavaliers game. The FBI had a September 2009 email from Weddington
asking which lobbyists and associations could be approached for money
from because of his work on a DNA-testing bill.
So
the FBI developed a sting involving undercover agents creating a fake
California wine company that persuaded Weddington to draft a budget
amendment — and later a stand-alone bill — to help the business
sell wine in Ohio.
Agents
spent more than $10,000 on fine dining around Columbus, and trips for
Weddington and his girlfriend to Napa Valley, Calif., and Miami for
lavish vacations that included first-class airfare, limos and spa
treatments — none of which were reported on his
financial-disclosure statement.
In
Miami, an undercover agent talked with Weddington about making quick
money, and Weddington said he’s not going that route. “I’m
good. I’m not sitting in nobody’s six-by-nine,” he said,
referring to the common size of a prison cell.
Weddington
was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty in March
2012 to felony bribery and election falsification.
Meanwhile,
Luckie was sentenced in January to three years in prison and required
to repay the state $12,000 for improperly spending about $130,000 in
campaign funds and falsifying documents to cover up his actions.
Williams’
presentation was part of a continuing legal-education seminar
sponsored by Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe. It was
designed to show attendees who is available to help with ethics-law
compliance and where they can go if they discover wrongdoing…
Read
the rest of the article at the Columbus Dispatch
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