The mayor of Charlotte was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigations on Wednesday on charges that he violated federal public corruption laws.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Patrick DeAngelo Cannon was charged with theft and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud and extortion under color of official right.
According to court documents, during the course of a separate criminal investigation, the FBI received reliable information that Cannon, a Democrat, was potentially involved in illegal activities associated with his position as an elected official, and began an undercover investigation in or about August 2010.
The complaint and affidavit allege that during the course of that investigation, Cannon allegedly solicited and accepted money bribes and things of value from undercover FBI agents, posing as commercial real estate developers and investors wishing to do business in Charlotte.
According to the documents, Cannon solicited and accepted bribes and items of value in exchange for the use of his official position as Charlotte Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and/or as a City Council Member.
The complaint and law enforcement affidavit allege that Cannon accepted the bribes from the undercover FBI agents on five separate occasions.
On the last occasion, on February 21, Cannon allegedly accepted $20,000 in cash in the Mayor's office.
According to the complaint and the affidavit, between January 2013 and February 2014, Cannon allegedly accepted from the undercover agents over $48,000 in cash, airline tickets, a hotel room, and use of a luxury apartment in exchange for the use of his official position.
The big question of course is that Cannon was elected Mayor last just November, and the sting goes back his City Council days in 2010. He's been under investigation for nearly four years. Cannon certainly would have lost to Republican Edwin Peacock for Mayor if he had been arrested six months ago after Mayor Anthony Foxx went on to become US Transportation Secretary. Of course, he would have lost in the primaries to City Councilman James Mitchell too, so.
So why now? The bulk of this stuff happened before he was Mayor. Cannon also owned the largest private parking company in Charlotte, E-Z Parking, and you can imagine the kind of nonsense that went on there in deals between the company and the city.
Republicans are calling on Cannon to resign immediately.
Also, dammit Democrats. Stop this. You're better than this.
That is indeed one hell of a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, I have been in discussions on the potential loss of the Senate by the Democrats come November.
I
can not escape noticing that, since 6/9/13, the liberal/left coalition
has fractured while a pathetic amount of time and energy has been wasted
on useless pissfights between the various Snowden/Greenwald/NSA/Obama
factions that remained standing after the dust settled.
The
very existence of these factions inhibits the trust that is vital in
moving forward the Left agenda. Unfortunately, the people responsible
have a well deserved reputation as Whiny Ass Titty Babies and will lash
out in the pride of their wounded fury should they be held to account.
I'm looking at you in particular, Atrios.
Horace, I'm afraid you are 100% on target in terms of what's been going on since 6/9/13. Too much time and effort has been put into defending/sucking up to the Greenwald/Snowden/Dudebro complex, while real "bread and butter" issues have fallen by the wayside. More barbs have been tossed at President Obama instead of the GOP nutballs who really do plan to toss this country over the fence to give it the business.
ReplyDeleteBut the truth is, GG, Atrios, and a lot of others who are howling on about the NSA really face no dangers from the GOP. They're in a privileged zone where they will not suffer from the GOP's machinations. The rest of us, though....