State Senator Charged With Taking $23,000 in Bribes in Sting Operation
Massachusetts state senator appeared in a federal courtroom today charged with taking $23,500 in bribes, including cash that she stuffed into her bra during a meeting at a fancy Boston restaurant. It was secretly videotaped by an undercover FBI agent.
"It was not so much the allegations that a politician accepted $23,500 in payoffs that sent ripples through the lunch crowd today on Beacon Hill. The shock was that state Senator Dianne Wilkerson allegedly was brazen enough to accept the cash in bustling restaurants just steps from the State House."
"The disparate settings for the alleged crimes varied from the Fill-A-Buster lunch counter on Bowdoin Street, where bureaucrats squeeze ketchup onto the meatloaf special, to Mooo, a modern restaurant with 25-foot ceilings where white gold chandeliers bathe the airy dining room in warm amber light and a 52-year-old single-malt Macallan scotch sells for $425 a glass." Those Dems sure know how to do Lunch!!
"One FBI surveillance photograph shows Wilkerson allegedly grabbing a handful of $100 bills over a starched white tablecloth at a lunch June 18, 2007, at the esteemed No. 9 Park, where a loin of Colorado lamb is served with fava beans, Greek yogurt, and pickled garlic scapes ($65 in a three-course prix-fixe). In the dining room set in an 1803 Bullfinch Mansion, Wilkerson then allegedly stuffed the $1,000 into her bra, according to a surveillance photograph and an affidavit filed in court."
"If I were going to make some illegal transaction, I would duck into a bathroom or somewhere a little more discrete," said a State House employee of 34 years enjoying that meatloaf today at the Fill-A-Buster. The man was afraid to give his name, like many frequenting the scenes of the alleged crimes for lunch. The same was true for his co-worker seated at his table, but that does not mean she did not have an opinion."
"When we were city kids," the woman said with a chuckle. "We'd find an alley or something."
U.S. attorney's office, allegedly shows Massachusetts state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, stuffing bribe money under her sweater June 18, 2007, at the bar at No. 9 Park restaurant in Boston. Wilkerson was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, by the FBI on public corruption charges. Hey CNN where is the In-depth coverage?
Democratic state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson faces 40 years in prison after federal prosecutors outlined accusations that she accepted the bribes over an 18-month period in a money-for-legislative influence sting operation. She had $6,000 in cash in her purse when she was arrested at her Roxbury home by nearly two dozen law enforcement officials.
That's 24...cops...to arrest a politician. You Eastcoasters play rough...LOL
Here in Juneau, nobody in politics goes out for meals or drinks any more because everyone is afraid that whoever they're sitting with or standing beside at a bar is wearing a wire. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I saw any elected or appointed official out and about here. 'Course, the whole lot of them that they rounded up here in Alaska didn't take much more than this one state senator did. Corruption is astoundingly cheap here.
Since it is a Democrat, let's see if the Boston Globe gives it the screaming coverage the McClatchey-owned Anchorage Daily News did here with Republicans getting busted.
The overwhelming show of force seems to be the Public Integrity Section's SOP; they did the same thing here with very public "raids" and "perp walks" for people who would have just shown up to be served with the warrant or to be arraigned. I suppose I really can't be too critical of the tactic of making lots of smoke and noise. You can't be everywhere or catch everyone, so when you do catch someone, you make sure everyone knows about it.