D.C. Mayor Worries Stolen Money Ended Up In Campaign Coffers (officials looted teachers' union)

NBC4 NEWS ^ | December 20, 2002

[Liz]

Teachers' Union Officials Accused Of Embezzlement

WASHINGTON -- D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams said Friday he is worried money allegedly stolen from the Washington Teachers Union may have made its way into his campaign coffers.

News4 first reported Thursday that FBI, IRS and Inspector General agents, acting on a 50-page search warrant affadavit, were raiding the homes of several former teacher union officials. The document details page after page of expensive items allegedly purchased over a 7-year period and involving more than $2 million in unauthorized and illegal expenses.

Art work, furniture, televisions, computers and files were among the items carted away by agents after Thursday's raid.

Authorities are investigating, among others, former teacher union President Barbara Bullock and her assistant Gwen Hemphill (photo).

Hemphill also was co-chairperson of Williams' reelection campaign until she resigned abruptly this summer.

The pages and pages of items including furs, custom-made clothes and wigs, art and vacations stunned Williams, who considers Hemphill a friend. Hemphill was involved in the mayor's disasterous petition campaign scandal that got him thrown off the ballot and fined $250,000.

In the current union probe, federal and local authorities are investigating a wide range of possible crimes including mail and wire fraud, false statements, money laundering, embezzlement and tax evasion.

Williams told News4's Tom Sherwood that he is personally concerned about Hemphill and others involved, but in private has called the alleged crimes "piggish".

Copyright 2002 by nbc4.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Liz]

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams said Friday he is worried money allegedly stolen from the Washington Teachers Union may have made its way into his campaign coffers.

So hypothetically if an individual making a salary of say $25 thou per year gives him $50,000 in campaign contributions, he doesn't think to say, "Hold on a sec, where'd you get this kind of money?"

[Texas Eagle]

So hypothetically if an individual making a salary of say $25 thou per year gives him $50,000 in campaign contributions, he doesn't think to say, "Hold on a sec, where'd you get this kind of money?"Come on. The guy's a DC politician. Since when does money have to "come from somewhere"?

[Humidston]

"HOLY SMOKES...I'm afraid somebody gave me dirty money!"

HA HA HA HA HA!!

(Too bad Rats will believe him.)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Golly, gee. This article makes one wonder which party's campaign coffers recieved all of that money. Could it be the Democrats. Naw, they don't do things like that. Gotta be some other party. </sarcasm>
Thanks to our impartial media for reporting the full story.

[martin_fierro]

Hemphill

[concerned about politics]

Sounds Democrat to me. Typical.

[Liz]

Heheh. Yeah, it just drops down out of the sky and into their pockets like magic. Their slimy hands don't even touch the filthy lucre. Heheh.

[Nick Thimmesch]

Simply put: if Mayor Williams, Black Democrat, was Mayor Williams, Black Republican -- race is not a factor here in DC since Whites Need Not Apply -- the Democrats would be calling for his head. They would spin it as typical Republican dirty tricks regarding his campaign's phony signatures & heavy fine and the would smear him due to his campaign co-chair's invlovement in this fiasco. Where are the national Black Democrats on Williams? Silent.

[Liz]

Good guess. You win a prize and when we figure out what it is, you'll receive your prize by Fedex.

[martin_fierro]

"HOLY SMOKES...I'm afraid somebody gave me dirty money!"

Wasn't this the same guy who said a few months ago, "HOLY SMOKES...I'm afraid dead and nonexistent people wrote my name in as a candidate!"?

[Tacis]

Why don't we just call the "reparations," and forget about it. And, if you're going to prosecute every black who gets to a position of responsibility whether it be pastor, politician, educator, public sector employee or private sector employee, who helps himself to a little of the organization's wealth, then we'll need many more jails. Be prepared, as well, to be called a racist. Leave Hemphill alone; what do you expect from affirmative action.

[Liz]

William says he's shocked, shocked.

What a great Claude Rains impersonation. He ought to audition for Letterman.

[johniegrad]

The pages and pages of items including furs, custom-made clothes and wigs, art and vacations stunned Williams (D)

Unlikely. Rather than being stunned I suspect he knows he will be connected and this is a feeble attempt at pre-emptive spin doctoring.

[Liz]

He also said Republicans are "racists."

[Jhoffa_]

What irks me is the way some unions get out of paying Social Security taxes. They have their own "retirement" accounts that organized crime and assorted other crooks use like a piggy bank.

No way. If I have to pay into SS, regardless then they should also.

[Humidston]

How DARE you attack the mayor... You must be a filthy REPUBLICAN RACIST!

/sarcasm

[martin_fierro]

Another "high" point in D.C. politics.

[Liz]

So Clintonesque isn't it? You figure in the fraud and spin your way out of it before your wrongdoing is revealed.

Clinton did this over and over using the Dumocrats signature scam.......sensitivity.

Even algore did it. Remember "no controlling legal authority?"

[Liz]

Amazingly, this doper went to jail, got out, and was reelected.

[Humidston]

Hey, don't knock spin-doctoring. It worked well for the last mayor of D.C. who was freakin' caught on camera snorting cocaine and got re-elected after his jail sentence.

If it wasn't so pathetic it'd be a laugh riot!