Ex-aide: I passed money to ex-Atlanta mayor

ATLANTA — Dewey Clark, first hired as a campaign aide who said he later become more like a member of Bill Campbell's family, testified Monday that he was a bagman who delivered thousands of dollars in bribes to the former Atlanta mayor.

Clark repeatedly broke down into sobs while he testified against a man he said he "loved," recounting how he funneled wads of cash to Campbell for gambling trips and rendezvous with female companions.

Clark's testimony Monday afternoon was the most emotional so far in Campbell's federal corruption trial. Clark was also the first witness to say he saw Campbell pocket money from a city contractor.

It was a day that began with a retired travel agent and Campbell friend testifying about how he used a special credit card to book trips for the then-mayor and his female companions, and about how Campbell repaid the debt with cash and gambling chips. It was also the first day that Campbell's wife, Sharon, was not present in the courtroom.

"These were trips that he probably wouldn't want his family to know about," said Gabe Pascarella, who is being used by the prosecutors to document Campbell's spending habits and why, they say, he needed money. On one of his trips, Pascarella said, Campbell made a $2,475 purchase at a San Francisco women's boutique.

If the travel agent's testimony was meant to let the jurors know where some of the alleged payoffs went, Clark's testimony told them where the money allegedly originated. Clark testified about how he funneled money to Campbell from business people looking for favors.

Clark, who for six years lived in Campbell's basement apartment, described his relationship with Campbell after being hired when he took office as mayor in 1994.

"I said, 'Just trust me; we're friends,' " the silky-voiced Clark testified, burying his face in a wad of tissue on the witness stand. "He said, 'I want you to go wherever I go.' He said, 'Just be loyal. Don't embarrass me.' "

Clark's testimony quickly triggered scoffs and loud expletives from Campbell supporters — enough to have one woman escorted from the courtroom and U.S. District Judge Richard Story to lecture the audience. The judge halted testimony after a male spectator said, "This is [expletive]" and stalked from the courtroom.

"There is a line over which you cannot cross," Story told the crowd. "You are disrupting this trial and disturbing these jurors. And I will not have it."

When Clark resumed his testimony, he said he had funneled cash from city contractor George Greene and strip club owner Michael Childs.

Clark said that Greene, the owner of Sable Communications, gave the mayor $5,000 for a short speech to about a dozen of Greene's employees and relatives. Campbell told the gathering that he rewarded loyalty and punished his enemies and would "even drive up on the sidewalk to get them," Clark testified.

Greene also wrote several checks to Clark totaling thousands of dollars, according to large replicas of the checks put on display for the jury. Clark said he used Greene's payments for his own spending money and to fly Campbell's girlfriends into Atlanta and put them up in hotels. Clark testified that he even saw to it that the hotel rooms were stocked with champagne.

Once, Clark said, he got $4,000 from Greene and gave Campbell the money in a restroom stall in a Mississippi casino.

What did Campbell say? prosecutor Sally Yates asked.

"I can't remember the exact words that he said," Clark responded, "but he was satisfied."

Clark also testified that Campbell took bribes from Childs, the strip club owner, to help him get a liquor license. Clark said he channeled cash from Childs to Campbell 10 to 12 times in 1997 and 1998. The payments were "nothing smaller than $2,500" and up to $10,000, Clark said.

Childs, another key government witness, is expected to testify soon. Defense lawyers say he is a thug who cannot be trusted, pointing out that he pleaded guilty to arson in setting fire to competitors' nightclubs.

Clark also testified that Fred Prewitt, a Campbell friend and a city contractor, passed cash to the former mayor. Prewitt "told me he was going to put a roll [of cash] in the mayor's hand big enough to choke a goat," Clark testified.

Prewitt passed the wad of cash to Campbell, Clark said, while they were headed to the airport. He said Prewitt told him it was $10,000 and joked, "Watch him walk all the way to the airport with his hand in his pocket."

Clark, a Memphis native who worked on Campbell's campaign before being hired as an assistant, said he answered the telephone and responded to constituent mail but also ran errands and did banking for the ex-mayor. Clark testified that he became almost a member of the Campbell family — taking out the trash, cutting grass and playing basketball with Campbell's son. He said he even ate Thanksgiving dinner with them.

"I loved Mayor Campbell; I loved his family," he said. "They treated me very well."

The mayor's assistant said he sat 10 to 15 feet from Campbell's office door. He is being used by prosecutors to describe Campbell's inner circle and who had the "green light" to come and go from the mayor's office.

During his testimony, Clark tried not to look at Campbell, who stared at him.

Jeffry Scott and Beth Warren write for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: jlscott AT ajc.com;

bwarren AT ajc.com. Staff writer Bill Torpy contributed to this report.