With a quick hearing before a judge Friday morning, DeKalb County quietly wrote a check for tree trimmer Paul Champion to go away and take his allegations with him.
And with that move, a long-bubbling scandal that started in a grease trap probably fizzles to an end. It was a scandal that sent county CEO Burrell Ellis to prison, made the county shorthand for corruption and dysfunction, and brought about the memorable declaration from a former state attorney general that DeKalb was "rotten to the core."
Champion is an Alabama businessman who filed a lawsuit in 2010 against DeKalb saying officials refused to pay him $888,000 for work because he would not agree to pay off certain officials. The job was part of a large contract to clear away vegetation so the county could map its sewer lines to get ready for a $1.35 billion system upgrade.
DeKalb countered that Champion was in cahoots with some contractors and county employees to over-bill the county. The case was set to go to trial on Jan. 30 when the county agreed to pay Champion $700,000 and another $800,000 for his attorney bills.
In the end, new CEO Michael Thurmond did not want TV crews camped out in front of the DeKalb County courthouse for a month, bringing viewers each day's sordid testimony.
Thurmond didn’t want to talk about the recent settlement because of confidentiality provisions attached. But the lack of bad news might have been worth the money.
“When I was running for the job, people kept telling me, ‘Just keep us off the front page. Keep us off the first 15 minutes of the newscast,’ ” he said.
And with this move, at least this sordid saga will go to rest.
Many of the allegations brought forward in Champion's suit ended up as the backbone of a damning special grand jury report released in 2013, one that painted DeKalb government as having a culture of corruption.
The special grand jury was born out of a nickel-and-dime bribery case. Back in 2011, a fats, oils and grease inspector from the watershed department pleaded guilty to taking cash from restaurants in exchange for environmental permits. Soon, a department boss went to the then-new district attorney, Robert James, to say corruption was much deeper than just one crooked inspector. And the hunt was on.
The grand jury report said that Champion, a tree trimmer, was paying 10 percent of his revenue to a contract employee in watershed who had connections inside the county, including a relative who worked for the department.
Later, according to the grand jury, a watershed director told Champion he needed to have a “black face” on a new deal with the county, so Champion rustled up a boyhood friend who was African-American, created a fake company and put him on the contract. The friend, who worked for the Cartoon Network, didn’t even own a chain saw.
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Champion’s attorney, Bob Wilson, a former DeKalb DA, has called his client a whistleblower, a man who was pulled into a corrupt system. But the grand jury recommended investigating Champion further for fraud.
In fact, the grand jury recommended investigation of a dozen former government officials and vendors for possible criminal wrongdoing. But only one indictment ever came out of the investigation — CEO Ellis, who was tried twice, convicted, imprisoned and then late last year saw his conviction overturned.
Champion’s allegations ended up netting Ellis in an investigation that pivoted away from the original probe in the watershed department. The grand jury caught DeKalb contract procurement director Kelvin Walton in a lie when he was asked about having Champion work on his property for free. Walton, facing perjury charges, was leveraged into becoming a snitch, wore a wire, and delivered up Ellis on a silver platter. Ellis was accused of strong-arming county vendors into making campaign contributions.
In the end, Ellis' conviction rankled many voters who saw it as a witch hunt by DA James. Other voters were displeased with James for not going far enough, for not charging any of the others referred to him by the grand jury.
Last year, James paid for it by losing his seat in an election.
Albert Trujillo, a longtime DeKalb resident who chaired the grand jury, said he was disappointed there were never any other prosecutions, although he added, “James went as far as he could go.”
“I just hope at least this slowed it down and maybe brought attention to this,” he said. “My conclusion is people need to be more vigilant as to who they put into office.”
This is not to say that nothing was done. Commissioner Elaine Boyer was later convicted by the feds on unrelated kickback charges. And voters sent two other commissioners packing, both of whom are still fighting county ethics violations.
So, voters have largely taken heed. In fact, four of the seven commissioners serving when the grand jury report was investigating are gone and the new board has pledged to work together more.
“This north-south, black-white, zero-sum game has brought progress to a halt in DeKalb County,” Thurmond said. “We embarrassed ourselves with all the divisiveness.”
DeKalb government has earned a bit of a honeymoon, he said, although there are big, tough issues looming that must be addressed and fixed:
» The sewer system is inadequate, which put a moratorium on some new construction.
» Roads in the county are terrible.
» One in eight water bills have tripled last year for some unknown reason.
"That water bill issue has done more damage (than the scandal)," Thurmond said. "That has gone to the heart and symbolizes dysfunction."
He added, “The overall mood about government has improved but now we have to deliver. If we don’t improve these things, none of this means anything.”
About the Author
