I don’t follow Texas politics but I am an avid player of a political game called “Name That Party.” The game is played whenever a prominent political figure is arrested or implicated in some untoward activity (though in today’s moral climate I am hard pressed to come up with an offense of moral turpitude that hasn’t been legalized by Anthony Kennedy) you scan the media coverage for a hint of the politician’s party affiliation and guess how near the lede paragraph it will be located.
Today’s entry comes from the Dallas Morning News story titled: John Wiley Price, three others indicted; conspiracy to commit bribery alleged
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price was arrested Friday morning by the FBI.
A sealed indictment filed Wednesday lists the following charges against Price:
Conspiracy to Commit Bribery Concerning a Local Government Receiving Federal Benefits
Deprivation of Honest Services by Mail Fraud and Aiding and Abetting
Conspiracy to Defraud the Internal Revenue Service
Subscribing to a False and Fraudulent U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
The indictment alleges that from 2001-11, Nealy provided “concealed financial benefits” to Price totaling $950,231. The indictment refers to the funds as “a continuous stream of bribe payments.”
Also competing are NBC, CBS, Fox, and ABC.
Price isn’t some minor figure. And his office is not a non-partisan one. The ABC story notes:
Price is one of the most powerful politicians in North Texas. Since he was first elected in 1984 as Dallas County’s first African American commissioner, Price has made a career out of vocal, forceful advocacy of minority issues. He also has close ties to some of Dallas business elite, giving him great power and influence.
Known by many of his constituents as “Our Man Downtown,” Price resides over District 3, which encompasses West Dallas, downtown, and a wide swath of southeastern Dallas, Hutchins and Seagoville.
Spoiler Alert. Price is a Democrat. Though none of the linked stories mentioned it at any point.
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