Tennessee Republican pleads guilty to mail fraud

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Thompson's Guilty Plea Leaves Some Questions Unanswered
(Memphis Flyer, March 1, 2008)

Former Shelby County commissioner Bruce Thompson, who proclaimed his innocence and determination to go to trial at a news conference in November, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in federal court Wednesday. Thompson, a Republican from East Memphis, faces a maximum sentence of one year and a day as part of the plea agreement with prosecutors. Two mail fraud counts and an extortion count carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years and a $250,000 fine were dismissed. There is no fine or restitution in the plea agreement. Prosecutors said that will be up to the judge at sentencing, set for June.

In the four-count indictment last year, the government charged that Thompson, while a member of the county commission in 2004-2005, falsely represented to a Jackson, Tennessee construction firm that "by reason of his position as a commissioner, he had the ability to control the votes of members of the Memphis City School Board" on a $46 million contract to build three schools.

The company, a joint venture of H&M Construction and minority-owned firm Salton-Fox Construction, paid Thompson $263,992. The school board unanimously awarded the contract to H&M and Salton-Fox in 2004, reversing a decision earlier that year to give it to Inman Construction.

On Wednesday, Thompson told U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla that he did in fact make false statements to H&M president Jim Campbell about his influence and the make-or-break nature of campaign contributions if H&M wanted the contract.

So this guy "proclaimed his innocence and determination to go to trial," then pleaded guilty and skipped the trial. It reminds me of Larry Craig, although Craig said he was guilty before he said he was innocent. Craig also said he would resign from the Senate but then he didn't.

I also remember Tom Delay, currently under indictment, promising that he would never leave his House leadership post, a promise which he subsequently retreated from, and that he was going to run for re-election to the House, which he then didn't, choosing to surrender his seat instead. This was just about the time Delay's book, No Retreat, No Surrender, came out.

You just can't make this stuff up.