Ex-Atlanta mayor gets jail for evading taxes

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell was
sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison on Tuesday on
charges of tax evasion.

The two-term ex-mayor, who had been convicted of tax
evasion in March after a U.S. corruption trial, was also
ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and more than $60,000 in back
taxes. He said he would appeal.

“This is not justice,” Campbell said on local television
after his sentencing. “This is an abomination in terms of what
we had expected and certainly in terms of what the jury’s
verdict was.”

Campbell, Democratic mayor of Georgia’s capital city from
1994 to 2002, was found guilty of three tax violation charges
by a jury but was acquitted on four more serious charges of
racketeering and bribery.

During a seven-week trial, prosecutors charged that
Campbell accepted more than $150,000 in bribes while in office
from people seeking city contracts or licenses, and spent it on
lavish trips.

Campbell was indicted in August 2004 after a five-year
investigation into municipal corruption.