Race has been at the forefront of John Wiley Price’s long political career. And the Dallas County commissioner’s indictment on federal corruption charges is no exception.
The case follows federal convictions of three former black City Council members, Al Lipscomb, James Fantroy and Don Hill, along with former state Rep. Terri Hodge.
It leads some minority activists to ask whether FBI officials have inordinately focused on bringing down black officials and taken a lighter touch with the business owners and developers, often white, who paid for special favors.
“A lot of people want to know about the other side, the white business leaders who may have participated in a crime,” said Robert Ashley, a political analyst who hosts a radio talk show based on southern Dallas issues. “What’s going on with them? Were they given immunity?”
Prosecutors were circumspect about what cooperation they may be getting from others thought to be involved in Price’s schemes. But for now, the most prominent charges are against black politicos.
With Price’s prominent role in Dallas’ racial politics for decades, the question is complex. For many of his constituents, his willingness to challenge the Dallas establishment with blunt racial language has made him an important representative, known fondly as “our man downtown.”
But his long career has netted him plenty of enemies, too, and some voters who question whether Price has gained more from his activities than the community has. So the reactions to last week’s indictments vary: Some black residents say his prosecution is unfair, while others wonder what took the government so long to catch him.
But the concern about equal treatment regardless of race is far-reaching, and Price and his co-defendants could base their defenses in part on whether federal investigators threw the book at black politicos while going easy on white people involved in the schemes. The lawyer for Dapheny Fain, Price’s top assistant who was also indicted Friday, raised the question.
“If it was wrong, why aren’t they in the indictment? What part of town are they from?” said lawyer Tom Mills.
Federal scrutiny
With a string of black politicians under federal scrutiny, Dallas reflects a national trend, said Dr. D’Linell Finley, a political scientist at Alabama State University in Montgomery who has studied the matter.
“There is a perception out there that big money has bought and paid for a lot of your Republicans who are in power today,” Finley said. “Nobody seems to be overly concerned about that, so when you see the prosecution of African-American officials, and you know that it’s happening on the other side, you create a perception that you’re targeting African-Americans.”
Federal authorities did not address the accusations as they unveiled the charges Friday. And they rarely discuss the details of their cases or prosecutorial strategy.
The first Dallas council member convicted of public corruption was Paul Fielding, who is white. U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldaña, a Democrat, has said before that race does not play a role in her investigations.
“We base prosecutions on evidence and nothing else,” Saldaña said in 2012, months after the Price investigation was made public. “As deputy chief over public corruption cases for almost three years, I can say unequivocally that we haven’t prosecuted people based on race or ethnicity, and it won’t happen on my watch as U.S. attorney.”
Charges of enrichment
Price, 64, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he enriched himself through bribes and influence peddling.
Along with Fain, 52, political consultant Kathy Nealy, 61, and Nealy associate Christian Lloyd Campbell, 44, were named in the indictment. All have denied wrongdoing.
The indictment alleges a pattern of criminal activity involving Price, his associates, and several private companies. Federal officials say that Price traded political influence and insider information about potential county contracts — information that private firms were not legally entitled to have — for money.
Money paid by Dallas political consultant Kathy Nealy to Price, for example, is bluntly described as a “continuous stream of bribe payments” in the indictment, totaling nearly $1 million in benefits for the commissioner.
Votes by Price on issues benefiting companies that had hired Nealy, the government contends, preceded or followed payments from Nealy to Price.
But no one who supplied the money was indicted, a departure from the case against Hill and other high-profile cases. Nor were any private companies identified by name.
Ashley, the community leader, said few people condone criminal activity, and if Price is guilty, he should be brought to justice.
“But there’s a perception that there are two standards of justice,” Ashley said. “Could it be, that when it comes to white leaders, there’s a scarf over the eyes of justice?”
That concern has long roots for black Americans. It’s steeped in the FBI’s history of pursuing black leaders, from Marcus Garvey in the 1920s to Martin Luther King Jr. decades later.
Recent changes in politics may have muted the feelings. For the first time, the Justice Department is led by a black official, Attorney General Eric Holder. But in Dallas, many black residents see a pattern.
A white developer was among the defendants in Hill’s case. Brian Potashnik was accused of paying a “consultant” to help him get city business who funneled money to Hill. The consultant was Sheila Farrington, Hill’s one-time girlfriend and later his wife. Hill also was accused of prodding developers to hire minority subcontractors who did little or no work as part of a kickback scheme.
Potashnik testified against Hill and received a relatively light prison sentence of 14 months. Hill is serving an 18-year prison sentence, while Farrington got nine years.
Friday’s indictment points out that Nealy “often arranged meetings, lunches, and dinners with Price” for clients with business before the county, often when they were bidding for lucrative government contracts.
And according to the indictment, the contractors understood the deal.
“These businesses knew that Nealy had access to and influence with Price,” the indictment alleges. After they hired Nealy, they received access to confidential information that helped them win county business, the government charges.
One company explained its reasoning for renewing or extending its contracts with Nealy in documents obtained by federal authorities. Nealy reportedly provided “direct communication to appropriate decision makers” including “elected officials and staff” and provided “timely and relevant information” to help win bids.
Friday’s charges are the first to stem from the alleged scheme, but they may not be the last.
Original search warrants in the Price investigation sought records from several firms, including Ross Perot’s Hillwood Corp, Perot Systems, AT&T, American Airlines and the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson.
And it could take years for the case to come to trial.
‘Under a microscope’
Thomas Muhammad, president of the Black United Front in Dallas and a close friend of Price, said he’s not one to sympathize with guilty black elected officials because of the belief they are targeted by the FBI.
But he said Price didn’t do anything wrong and is relieved that the indictment, at long last, was made public.
“I know John,” Muhammad said. “I don’t care what the feds are saying. John is innocent.”
Muhammad said community leaders would rally around Price and raise money for his legal defense.
He said Price was the victim of a U.S. attorney’s office controlled by Republican Richard Roper under President George W. Bush.
“He’s been a target for some time,” Muhammad said. “The Republicans left this in the lap of Saldaña and hit John on the way out of the door.”
Among voters, it’s less clear.
Grant Austin Dickey, a criminal defense attorney in Irving, said he doesn’t think federal authorities are unfairly targeting black politicians. Dickey said law enforcement should pursue politicians of any race who are corrupt.
If anything, Price’s reputation for standing up for minority rights may have kept an investigation at bay for years, he said.
“The only way that perhaps race enters into this, I feel like, is maybe because he was a leader in the black community, people weren’t criticizing him for fear of looking racist and he got away with his corruption for a little bit longer than another person would have,” Dickey said.
And some younger black residents see an older style of doing business that is on its way out.
“People who want to serve the public want to step into an arena where there is no corruption or threat of corruption,” said DeSoto lawyer Taj Clayton, who lost a 2012 Democratic primary run for Congress and emphasized that he was withholding judgment in the case. “People now may want to get into public service and run for office because they feel it’s important for public servants to be free of corruption.”
Bobbie Edmonds, a prominent black lawyer in Fort Worth whom politicians of all backgrounds often consult about sensitive racial matters, said minority politicians have to accept targeting as a reality, and then adjust to it.
“You have to be careful,” she said. “You are always out there under a microscope. If you want to get out there and be a public servant, you have to maintain your ethics and integrity and don’t let the devil make you do something crazy.”
Staff writer Brandon Formby and Ed Timms contributed to this report.
Follow Gromer Jeffers Jr. on Twitter at @gromerjeffers.
AT A GLANCE: Recent Dallas officials in federal corruption cases
Paul Fielding: He was the first sitting Dallas City Council member to be indicted on corruption charges. Fielding, who is white, was caught on tape talking to council member Al Lipscomb about forming a “minority front” company that could seek business and payments from corporations and threaten to picket them for being unfair to blacks if they did not succumb. He resigned and pleaded guilty in 1997
Al Lipscomb: Based on information developed in the Fielding investigation, federal authorities in 1999 charged the black City Council pioneer with taking more than $90,000 in what they described as bribe payments from Yellow Cab Co. owner Floyd Richards. Lipscomb was convicted, but an appeals court set him free after finding that the judge improperly moved the trial to the Panhandle. U.S. Attorney Jane Boyle declined to try Lipscomb again in spite of what she called overwhelming evidence of corruption. Richards, who is white, pleaded guilty but publicly maintained his innocence. Lipscomb died in 2011.
James Fantroy: A political protégé of Lipscomb, Fantroy attracted the FBI’s attention in 2004 with his attempt to solicit a bribe from developer James R. “Bill” Fisher. But the black council member was ultimately not charged with bribery. Instead, he was convicted in 2008 of embezzling $21,000 from Paul Quinn College. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison and 180 days of home confinement. Fantroy died in 2008.
Don Hill: After Fisher began cooperating with Dallas FBI agents, they opened an investigation of black council member Don Hill, whose corruption case became the largest in Dallas history. Kathy Nealy, one of John Wiley Price’s alleged co-conspirators arrested Friday, was a government witness against Hill. In 2009, Hill was convicted of bribery, along with his wife, Sheila Farrington, former Plan Commission member D’Angelo Lee and several others. Hill is serving 18 years in federal prison.
Terri Hodge: The former state representative, who is black, was charged with bribery as part of the Hill investigation. But before her corruption trial could begin, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion for not reporting bribe payments as income. She served one year in federal prison.
Brandon Formby
