Memphis Jury Must Decide Whose Lying in Wanda Halbert School Board Case

As of right now, a grand jury is pouring over two days of testimony from current and former members of the Memphis City School Board to figure out whether former member and newly elected City Councilwoman Wanda Halbert received $2,000 as a campaign contribution that went unreported or as an improper gift.

With Memphis politicians as well as politicians statewide being prosecuted right and left by federal lawyers, the thought of another indictment is hardly a blip on the proverbial radar of Memphis. However, with Wanda Halbert's position now on the city council as well as her long-time service on the school board, some alarms are going off as questions arise as to how a donation everyone admits took place somehow avoided the standards for campaign contributions during Halbert's 2004 reelection campaign to the Memphis City School Board.

The nuts and bolts of the case run like this. Halbert receives a call from a former Shelby County Commissioner named Bruce Thompson who owns a consulting firm. At this meeting, Thompson introduces Halbert to Kirby Salton who works for H&M Construction. At this point, according to Halbert she realizes the inappropriate nature of the meeting and moves to leave. Salton desires to help Halbert's campaign. Wanda to her credit tells Salton to pray for her.

This is where things get sticky. According to Halbert, her best friend and traveling buddy, Toni Blankenship follows but before exiting the door receives two envelopes, each with $1,000 inside. Blankenship admits to receiving the money. Her failure to properly report the donation lies in the fact that she placed it in the campaign office and it was stolen so there was nothing to report. Wanda Halbert's status in Memphis politics is unquestioned. She is highly respected and looked at as a civic contributor above reproach. If Kirby Salton's statement is accurate, Halbert knew that he gave the money to Blankenship and they mutually decided not to report the campaign contribution.

The question left for members of the grand jury is whether or not, the contribution was known by Wanda Halbert or if Toni Blankenship just made an incredibly dumb move by not reporting the contribution to the campaign treasurer. Obviously, members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are taking this matter seriously. In the last two days they have brought in a plethora of witnesses and people in the know, including Ron Redwing and Sara Lewis. Redwing ran unsuccessfully for US Representative in 2004 while Sara Lewis retired from the Memphis City School Board a couple of years ago after a long tenure of service.

Over the last three years, almost a dozen local and state politicians have been indicted and jailed for similar issues as the one raised here. In Memphis, local council members were involved in a sting operation that has led to five members of the community pleading guilty and being sentenced. In the case of Wanda Halbert many hope that she is not guilty. However, those same people would not be surprised if she is. With the jury weighing the facts and merits of the case only time and an indictment will tell who they hold responsible for failure to report a campaign contribution by Kirby Salton.