Michael Decker

Trophies for the U.S. attorney's wall

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:04:02 -0500

If the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District were a hunter, he'd have some nice trophies.

Over the past eight years, federal prosecutors based in Raleigh have taken down some big Democratic game as part of their anti-corruption efforts.

A short list:

Meg Scott Phipps. The former Agriculture commissioner spent three years in prison for fraud and extortion over inappropriate use of campaign funds.

Jim Black. The former longtime speaker of the N.C. House is serving time for taking $29,000 in bribes from chiropractors who wanted him to push legislation.

Michael Decker. The former state representative is serving time for taking more than $63,000 in cash and campaign checks from Black to switch parties.

Frank Ballance. The former Congressman is serving time for diverting $100,000 in public money he helped direct to a nonprofit to his law firm, church and family.

Garey Ballance. The son of Rep. Ballance, a Democratic district court judge, served time for failing to report money he received from his father to buy a Lincoln Navigator.

Kevin Geddings. The former state lottery commissioner is serving time for failing to disclose that he worked for a lottery vendor when he took his seat.

The U.S. attorney's office may have also helped investigate former Rep. Thomas Wright, who was found guilty in state courts of improperly spending campaign donations, though it has never confirmed or denied the assistance.

Not all of their targets were Democrats, either. Federal prosecutors also put former state GOP chairman and former U.S. attorney Sam Currin in prison for laundering money for a client.

Shanahan: Keep investigating corruption

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:06:00 -0500

Kieran Shanahan hopes the next U.S. attorneys keep the focus on corruption.

The Raleigh lawyer, who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1984 to 1989, notes that federal prosecutors have played an important role in rooting out corruption in North Carolina.

Shanahan, a Republican, points to the successful prosecutions of former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps, former Speaker Jim Black and former Reps. Michael Decker and Thomas Wright, all Democrats.

"The one watchdog for the people of North Carolina has been prosecutors in the Eastern District," he said. "It would be a disappointment if they did not continue that effort."

Shanahan said that federal prosecutors are "uniquely equipped" to handle corruption investigations because they are politically insulated, have larger budgets and nationwide subpoena powers and can empanel investigative grand juries, a power that state and local prosecutors do not have.

He noted that U.S. attorneys often have different priorities in Republican and Democratic administrations, saying he expects the next prosecutors to focus more on cases involving white collar crime and environmental regulations.

"I think this administration might be more inclined to go after business," he said.

Betts on Wright's sentence

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:46:40 -0400

Jack Betts add his two cents on Thomas Wright's sentence.

In a post on This Old State, the Charlotte Observer editor writes that Wright got a longer sentence than other politicians because he did not apologize and because of where he was tried.

A key reason: Wright was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced in state court. Black and Decker were sentenced in federal courts. And while fairness would seem to require that those sentenced for corruption ought to get sentences that are proportionate not just to the crime but also to other sentences for political corruption, the plain fact is there’s little attention given to what fairness might dictate. Everything depends upon the prosecutor, the charges brought, the jury’s makeup and decision, and the judge who delivers a sentence. And judges themselves, of course, must abide by the dictates of the differing federal and state sentencing guidelines. Federal judges particularly have to go through a long process before pronouncing sentences, and their discretion is limited, though not as much as it used to be. State judges’ discretion is also controlled by mitigating and aggravating factors.

Why did Wright get the longest sentence?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:47:50 -0400

Laura Leslie wonders why Thomas Wright got the longest sentence.

In a post on Hunter's Tavern, the WUNC reporter points out that the former state representative got the longest sentence of any of the three legislators who've been convicted of corruption in the last two years.

Former state Rep. Michael Decker got $50,000 and a job for his son for selling his vote, and in exchange he got 48 months in a federal prison.

Former House Speaker Jim Black got a $500,000 loan and admitted buying Decker's vote, and in exchange he got a $1 million fine and 63 months in a federal prison.

Wright got a $150,000 mortgage under false pretenses and pocketed $7,400 in charitable donations and he got 70 months in state prison.

"So how is it that fraud in the service of buying a house nets you more prison time than fraud in the service of buying the House?" she writes on the blog. "Seriously — is it really more heinous to deceive a banker than a voter?"

On the other hand, she notes that Wright failed to apologize at all for his behavior, unlike Black and Decker.

What is Operation Double Black Diamond?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:22:06 -0500

Answer:

A long-running investigation by federal prosecutors of the video poker industry.

The probe, which has been running since 2000, has resulted in more than a dozen convictions.

It has looked into the activities of disgraced former House Speaker Jim Black and his aide Meredith Norris.

Using an investigative grand jury, it also looked into public corruption cases unrelated to video poker, including state lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings and former Rep. Michael Decker.

Twisting the knife on Decker

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:38:54 -0400

Even prison hasn't earned Rep. Michael Decker any sympathy.

In a column in the Greensboro News & Record, one of Decker's former Republican colleagues is quoted letting out a few more complaints about the former state representative, who is now in a federal prison for accepting a bribe from former Speaker Jim Black to switch parties.

Former county Republican chairman and state Rep. John Cocklereece recalls thinking "Friend, you don't have a chance," when Decker first ran in 1982 and 1984. He says Decker worked hard in the campaign, but he credits President Reagan for the wins.

In office, he says Decker was never popular with fellow Republicans because he "talked too much on the floor, often said the wrong things and was overly pious."

"It came to be a saying that "if you wanted to get a bill killed real fast ... get Decker to sponsor it,'' Cocklereece said.

Decker reports to prison

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:06:54 -0400

Michael Decker reports to a South Carolina prison today.

The former state representative, who admitted taking more than $63,000 in cash and campaign checks from former House Speaker Jim Black, was assigned to a federal prison in Bennettsville, S.C.

He was sentenced to four years, but prosecutors have asked for a reduction based on his cooperation. He could also get time off for good behavior.

Decker said he does not expect a judge to be lenient.

"My expectations are not high that anything will happen," he said. (W-SJ)

Easley: Didn't help Decker

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:57:30 -0400

Gov. Mike Easley said today that he was not asked in early 2003 by House Speaker Jim Black to find a state job for the man who helped keep Black in power, Rep. Michael Decker.

Decker told Carolina Journal, a John Locke Foundation publication, that he overheard Black tell the governor in a phone conversation that Decker "may need need a job when this is over," Dan Kane reports.

The conversation took place, Decker said, just after Black held on to the speaker's job by agreeing to a power sharing arrangement with Republican Rep. Richard Morgan. Decker, a Forsyth County Republican, helped make it happen by switching parties and backing Black for speaker, deadlocking the House.

Decker told the journal that he knew it was the governor because Black handed his cellphone to Decker so the governor could thank him.

"I never had that conversation with Speaker Black," Easley said. "He never called me about Michael Decker or a job, so that's just misinformation."

More after the jump.

Back to barracks

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:37:35 -0400

Back to barracks

"I think prison will be like boot camp."

— Former state Rep. Michael Decker, a Navy veteran, on how he will handle serving at a federal prison camp for accepting a bribe to switch parties in 2003. Quoted in The Carolina Journal on Aug. 28, 2007.

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Michael Decker's first offer

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:33:37 -0400

Michael Decker says he didn't ask for cash the first time.

The former state representative, who pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe in 2003 from former House Speaker Jim Black, said he first approached him about switching parties in 1997.

At his state sentencing hearing, Black, a Democrat, testified that Decker, a Republican, asked for money in return for his vote. He said he turned him down because he thought Decker was wearing a recording device.

But in a two-part interview with the Carolina Journal this week, Decker said that he only asked for the usual legislative favors.

"What I wanted was money in the budget for certain projects," he said. "It was not money for personal use or for campaign contributions."

Decker said he made the proposal because he was angry with the Republican leadership.