No Wonder He Stepped Down...

Did Ben "Nighthorse" Campbell's early retirement announcement have anything to do with a federal investigation criminal investigation targeting his office?

Campbell said the federal inquiry centers on two allegations. Both came to public light because of reporting by Mike Soraghan of The Denver Post's bureau in Washington, D.C.

First is a complaint by former Campbell staffer Brian Thompson that he was shaken down for $2,000, allegedly by Kontnik. In an earlier interview, Kontnik admitted inflating Thompson's salary and asking for money back, but said it was reimbursement for expenses, not an illegal kickback. Kontnik said Campbell knew of the payment but "may not have technically signed off on it."

Second is whether Campbell or his staff improperly pushed to steer a $1.15 million, no-bid contract for an anti-drug task force to Thinkstream Inc. The Oregon company hired Denver law and lobbying firm Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber to help it win federal deals. The Brownstein firm was the top contributor to Campbell's re-election campaign before Campbell opted to not seek another term.

Whether there was actually any wrong doing on the part of Campbell is purely speculative at this point. If there were, it would be an ugly end to an intriguingly long (if not quite distinguished) career. Personally, I hope we don't get another reason to feel even more cynical about our elected officials.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at May 11, 2004 04:55 PM | TrackBack