getting back at the mayor

January 22, 2006 10:55 PM

RevengeFilter: Help me get back at my town's corrupt mayor.

A few months back a relative of mine, who is a city employee, told me that he had gone to his supervisor to ask for a promotion and had been told, upfront that a promotion would cost him a $5,000.00 donation to the mayor's re-election campaign. I was disgusted but not surprised, as the mayor has been in trouble for influence peddling before. As my relative was not interested in getting involved in any investigation, I've kept the information to myself (ordinarily I'm an unstoppable blabbermouth, but I love my relative and don't want to bring him any grief).
Recently however, to please land developers who are major contributors to the mayor's electioneering campaigns, the mayor has made a decision that will impact the value of my parent's home and possibly have a negative impact on a nearby bird sanctuary.
Here's what I need: how do I drop the dime on the mayor without impacting my relative? Both of the local daily newspapers are in the mayor's pocket, and while the weekly alternative does some good reporting it rarely has much impact. This is, by the way, in the US.

posted by anonymous to law & government (29 comments total)

The FBI tried to go after John Street in Philadelphia for pay-for-play scandals, but failed. Make sure you:

1) have something of substance that the FBI or state bureau can use for a high-profile case

2) can trust whatever law enforcement officer you work with (doesn't help much if your help is on the payroll)

3) have a plan for you and your relative to leave town, if your mayor pulls a Street and gets off clean (you don't want a Ron White in your future)
posted by Rothko at 11:05 PM on January 22, 2006

The old cliché, "You can't fight City Hall," would probably not have become a cliché if you could, in fact, fight City Hall.

I'd suggest dropping this idea like a hot potato.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:09 PM on January 22, 2006

Newspapers are small potatos. Think bigger. Your local Big Media Station affiliate might be having a slow news day, and love to "scoop" newspapers over real news like this, particularly if it's scandelous.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 11:16 PM on January 22, 2006

What ikkyu2 said. Also: Unless there's a lot more behind your story, you haven't got nearly enough ammunition in your pocket for this fight. Walk away.
posted by cribcage at 11:24 PM on January 22, 2006

Today's lesson from ikkyu and cribcage: it is better to let the corrupt do whatever they wish than to . . . I don't know? Do something, anything at all?

That's defeatist and shameful.

Does your relative have any harder evidence of the $5,000 requirement? Was it strictly verbal? Maybe he or she could send a clarifying email? Or if not, at least report it to someone at the FBI. Perhaps they're already bulding a case against him and another informant would be helpful. But anything is better than nothing. Good god.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:45 PM on January 22, 2006

I don't know about "defeatist and shameful," but I know Sun Tzu said every battle is won before it's fought. Unless there's a lot more substance that anonymous omitted from his story, he's got absolutely nothing. He's describing a verbal offer made by a fourth party to a third party who's unwilling to testify. Anything may indeed be better than nothing — but in this case, he can't do "anything." He's David approaching Goliath with two broken arms and no slingshot. I want to see the bully get his comeuppance as much as the next guy, but that's just plain stupid.
posted by cribcage at 12:12 AM on January 23, 2006

Unless you have actual evidence (like, say, emails) that someone offered a promotion for a contribution, you have nothing. Heck, even if your relative has proof that his boss said such a thing, the mayor could probably disavow knowledge pretty easily.

Also, unless you have your relative's permission, you shouldn't be thinking about doing this at all. It's hearsay at this point. The first thing any honest law enforcement or media official would do is ask to talk to the relative in question. In short, you might want to think about other ways to stop your mayor.
posted by mediareport at 12:18 AM on January 23, 2006

Quit dissing your alt-weekly. When they break a big story, the larger papers are often forced to follow to cover their asses.

You do, however, need a smoking gun. The only way I could see this working is with your relative going to local law enforcement and agreeing to be part of a sting, or at least agreeing to have that bribe convo again while recording (recording laws vary from state to state so check yours) for the local alt-weekly.

Or, your relative can indentify a colleague willing to do this.

It is currently election season so the window of opportunity (willingness to get bribes elevated; willingness to cover story elevated) is small. If you want to do this legwork is required and neck-sticking-out is too. Get the senior reporter on the alt-weekly's staff, and the editor, involved. Have a discreet meeting and discussion with them and your relative present, at least.
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:00 AM on January 23, 2006

You might consider going to the mayor's political opposition. I'm sure that if there's a way to use this info against the mayor, they'll be able to think of it. Of course, I doubt pretty seriously you can trust these people to watch out for your interests; they may recommend some course of action that helps them but doesn't help you or your family.

Still, you could send them an anonymous email and see how they respond.
posted by Clay201 at 1:02 AM on January 23, 2006

Additionally, revenge is quite different than restitution. Which are you seeking? Your strategies will vary widely based on the answer to this question.
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:34 AM on January 23, 2006

I'd suggest you try campagining against the Mayor's decision. You'll get alot more support for the harming the bird sanctuary. Check and see if you have state lobbists for any enviromental/animal groups and ask if they are willing to lend support to a protest against it or something. If you do enough here, you'll get media attention. Which will turn into bad press for the Mayor.

The funny thing about the Media, is that in a regular article or investigation, they tend to turn up other things that are unrelated. They might find a few other things bad the Mayor has done, and do some research of his decisions and campaign funds and expose him publicly anyway. Even if they don't, he'll certainly have a more difficult time next election after he pisses off all the bird and nature lovers in the county.

Of course, he might end up backing down before being exposed and not hurt his reputation with enviromentalists. But then that decision won't go through for lowering the value of your parents house.

Short of that, though, you really have nothing going for you. Everyone above is right. You have nothing newsworthy without proof, and certinally nothing legal. If you try to go public with what you have now, the mayor will just snag you with a Slander suit and use his campaign funds against you personally. So if you arn't willing to protest the decision in some way, or it doesn't end up effecting the refuge, you'd best wait for another opportunity, or move to another county. Have your parents sell the house ASAP before the property value drops, and move with them.

Your cousin should really have immediatly gone to the DA or State Attorney General or something. Or even a regular local lawyer familiar with business law. Attempting to extort 'donations' for a pay raise or promotion is illegal on so many levels it's astonding.
posted by Phynix at 1:50 AM on January 23, 2006

It wouldn't hurt to report what you know to the FBI, even if you don't have anything substantial enough for them to act on. It's possible that they are hearing about the guy from other people, and your report could be the straw that makes them decide to investigate.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:02 AM on January 23, 2006

There may be some more actionable complaint against the mayor that you can support. Someone who has come forward with corruption allegations and needs help pressing those complaints forward. I'm not sure what sort of help, but at least you won't be fighting alone and based on second hand information for money that doesn't go directly to the mayor (at least I don't think he's that dumb).
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:12 AM on January 23, 2006

Just to note, the FBI has stepped up its corruption investigations over the past few years. Depending on the size of your town, etc, I'd drop them a line asking what type and how much evidence would be enough to get them involved in the case, and then go from there.
posted by Atreides at 6:44 AM on January 23, 2006

So your relative can’t get the promotion unless he pays the mayor off? Sorry that I don’t feel your pain but first off people get skipped over for promotions for more inane reasons. The private sector is even harsher than this my friend. While it might be borderline illegal, if the promotion is an appointed position (which is 100% legal within city government), then he does have to prove his worth to the mayor in some way. That is a fact of life in all governmental positions whether they are corrupt or not. My advice is don’t get your panties in a bunch over this. If you are at all familiar with Mayor Kilpatrick of Detroit and how he gets away with things on a much larger scale and even under much more severe criticism, then a $5000 “bribe” to the local mayor’s campaign fund is nothing. I laugh at Rothko's advice about the FBI. Like I said about Kilpatrick, there is lots of hard proof about his corruption that has even been front page news in the Detroit Free Press but will never lead to any criminal investigation.

The other issue if more than just hearsay could become a minor scandal, although maybe not depending on the real severity of the problem. If it is a bar rumor with nothing more than hearsay, then I would probably either forget about it or try and dig up something.
If there is some hard proof then get in touch with local and national environmental groups and try to get them interested in helping to fight it. If you have an insider source which will provide documentation then that would be very helpful to expose things. But based on your vague description I tend to doubt that there is much of a guaranteed issue there either.
posted by JJ86 at 6:49 AM on January 23, 2006

I'm going to reinforce the consensus here:

--You got nothing.

--To get something, you need audio, video, or written proof. It has to be rock-solid. Incontrovertible. Inarguable.

--You need clean official help. FBI seems like your only choice.

--Don't count on media to do the investigation, even the alt.weekly. You need to bring them a packaged story, or else bring them to the FBI when you go, with the understanding that they get the scoop when it's all over—but not before.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:20 AM on January 23, 2006

I second the advice to drop it. Politicians don't become politicians without learning how to get ahead using dirty work while keeping their own hands clean.

If it makes you feel any better, 99% of the world's politicians are scumbags who do exactly this, and worse, on a regular basis. You will never get revenge on them for the corrupt decisions they make; the best we can do is remove their power to make decisions like this.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 8:02 AM on January 23, 2006

Cook up a scheme to take to the Mayor and see if he solicits a bribe from you. Then you have something to take to law enforcement. See if there's any other corruption you can uncover. Call the newspaper anonymously and talk to a reporter. If he's soliciting bribes, there will be others who are pissed off.
posted by theora55 at 8:06 AM on January 23, 2006

Cook up a scheme to take to the Mayor and see if he solicits a bribe from you. Then you have something to take to law enforcement.

Entrapment. Just take it to the feds.
posted by Rothko at 8:21 AM on January 23, 2006

The thing that anonymous mentioned that will throw a wrench into all these plans to accuse the mayor of corruption is that the mayor never asked for a bribe. It was the supervisor who suggested that the employee donate to the mayor's campaign fund to get a promotion! For all anyone knows, that implies no collusion with the mayor. It could simply be sarcasm on the supervisor's part that the relative didn't get.
posted by JJ86 at 8:24 AM on January 23, 2006

Entrapment. Just take it to the feds.

Except anon isn't a cop so it isn't entrapment. Plus it would only be entrapment if he approached the Mayor with a bribe, not if he coerced the Mayor into asking for a bribe.

But still, take it to the Feds.
posted by public at 8:57 AM on January 23, 2006

It's not entrapment if anon approaches the mayor and says "I want to build this thing" and the Mayor says "gimmee", even if he was a cop. See Slate's article on entrapment.
posted by electroboy at 10:55 AM on January 23, 2006

go to a place like prweb.com, write up an article/ press release about the mayor, and it will get picked up by newsfeeds like google and yahoo...

make sure to link in the press release to a yahoo group/website/ whatever, and start a grassroots campaign which the local papers will report.

if done right, $100 or so you could have anyone that has the name of the town/state/mayors name in a google alert or searching for local news will get your release.

t'works.
posted by Izzmeister at 11:33 AM on January 23, 2006

run for mayor on a no corruption platform. and promise to only run twice, at most. (self imposed term limits).
posted by Izzmeister at 11:35 AM on January 23, 2006

God, what a load of shitty advice!

Ok. You want to do this? You do need more evidence. Do give a call to your local alt-weekly or newspaper, and ask for the city beat or government desk. They should have someone who does cover this sort of thing.
But collusion really doesn't tend to be that hard to prove, at least past libel laws. Your city's employment records are all going to be public domain, and you can cross-reference who got promoted when along with campaign finance records (unlikely to uncover a lot, unless the mayor is really stupid. But usually, people get caught because they're really stupid). Then you can start looking for more people to talk to. Offer to be an intermediary for your relative (though a good journalist should be able to suss out who your relative is if you come to them), and start looking around for people who have been passed over for promotions within his department. If the mayor is corrupt, this will have happened more than once. Then start looking for ex-employees. They usually have less love for the place, and are good corroborative sources. From there, you should have enough leads to see whether the story was true or not, or worth pursuing. (One more thing: One of the cases that we studied in my investigative reporting class was about corruption in a Florida municipality, with ties between property and drug money— take a look at property records from the tax rolls and see if there's anything there either).

This is the sort of thing that good journalists live to hear about.
posted by klangklangston at 11:53 AM on January 23, 2006

Today's lesson from ikkyu and cribcage: it is better to let the corrupt do whatever they wish

Don't use my name that way. If you want to make a stupid comment, attribute it to yourself.

Today's lesson: when taking action can do nothing good, and can easily bring down untold harm upon yourself, do not take action. My contribution to this old chestnut: pointing out that you can't win a fight with City Hall, because they will kick back and they have bigger, harder, nastier boots on.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:59 PM on January 23, 2006

Today's lesson: when taking action can do nothing good, and can easily bring down untold harm upon yourself, do not take action.

I don't live in fear of bullies. Neither should anonymous. The reason corruption is so widespread is that everyone, thinking nothing can be done about it, does nothing about it.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:15 PM on January 23, 2006

Guys, this is AskMe, take it to Metatalk.
posted by Rothko at 2:40 PM on January 23, 2006

klang is exactly right. As a reporter, I loved getting tips like this. Putting the screws to the man is loads of fun. If I were in your shoes, I'd go down to the local alt-weekly. But in your situation, I'd also do some of the other things suggested here, regarding the bird sanctuary. I would also mention your parents' home and the bird sanctuary to the reporter. They could knock out a quick story relating campaign contributions from the developers to the bird sanctuary impact...okay, you said possible impact. Well, I'd still let the reporter know about your reasons for coming forward. If they find out later your parents are more concerned about the horde of undesirables moving in, they'll be less interested.
posted by atchafalaya at 5:42 AM on January 24, 2006