Crooks Mayoral candidate has felony convictions for bribery of government officials, city staff threatened, case over qualification for office being heard in court.

WHOA! This story just came out of the blue. From the facebook page of Rounds for Mayor of Crooks:

Scrolling down on the page, you also get this letter which alludes to the criminal offense that was tried by the US District Court:

Mayor Rounds also notes that not everyone took the review process the city did well:

The issue of candidate eligibility lies with the city finance officer and I accept his decision.

Unfortunately, during the eligibility review process, city staff was contacted by an individual who attempted to stop the review and threatened staff, council, and family of council. While I have refrained as much as possible from this matter, as the CEO of our town I must assist and defend our city staff from such abusive attacks. This matter has been turned over to city council and their legal advisors. My position is that it is a matter for independent investigation and perhaps law enforcement.

I cannot express enough my disappointment that someone in our community would behave in this manner and make such threats. It is unethical, expensive, disruptive of staff, and I believe illegal. It is not reflective of our community and I ask you to join me in condemning such actions and holding one another accountable for working together in a positive manner.

Read that here.

That’s not a good situation.

So, where did this all come from? If you do a little searching, the story made the news for the incident which came up way back in 1994:

Two non-Indians–Francis (Butch) Oseby and Donald Jerke, both of Sioux Falls–and tribe member Warren Barse formed the company in April, 1991, on the same day the tribe’s lawyer wrote to Hawkins saying the plans were legal.

Raether and Oseby would look for surplus equipment; the tribe would obtain it; DME would buy it from the tribe, paying pennies on the dollar for equipment worth millions.

and…

And prosecutors say one BIA official, Charles Hacker, was deeply involved in the scheme.

They say Hacker, then a transportation official in the BIA’s Albuquerque, N.M., office, provided hundreds of pre-signed equipment transfer forms that allowed Oseby, Raether and others to work without the usual BIA oversight.

In exchange, Oseby gave Hacker at least $7,000 in cash and offered him a $10,000 loan to buy a home, prosecutors say. Hacker admitted to federal agents that he took the payments, but insisted they were loans, not bribes.

Oseby also obtained a $500 stereo from an Air Force base in New Mexico and sold it to Hacker for $50, according to prosecutors.

Read it all here.

I guess the lesson is that if you have prior federal felony convictions for bribery of government officials, even over 20 years ago, that’s not something that people are going to forget about if you’re throwing your hat in the ring to run for Mayor.

And it’s really not going to go well if someone is out threatening staff over catching it.