July 9, 2005

Storm Clouds Gathering Over Sundquist?

I'm hoping former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist won't stay head of a new national commission on Medicaid reform for very long, given the front-page story in the Saturday edition of The Tennessean.

Former Gov. Don Sundquist was "the impetus" for the federal investigation into state contracts that has led to the indictments of two of his friends, a federal judge says in court documents.

Federal prosecutors have evidence that Sundquist "improperly interceded" on behalf of a firm called Education Networks of America, or ENA, that wanted to do business with the state, U.S. District Judge Karl Forester wrote in a court filing.

ENA had a $106 million contract with the state to provide Internet service to public K-12 schools. It was headed by Sundquist's friend Al Ganier, who has been indicted on federal charges of obstruction of justice. John Stamps, an investor in ENA and another longtime Sundquist pal, pleaded guilty in May to tax evasion and making fraudulent statements to secure a government contract while Sundquist was governor.

...
The former governor, a Republican and former congressman who led the state from 1996 to 2003, now works as a lobbyist and consultant. Only yesterday he was named to head a national panel to recommend suggestions for improving Medicaid.

Sundquist "apparently was the impetus for the investigations," Forester wrote. He did not elaborate. The statement came in a 31-page opinion and order that actually isn't about Sundquist — it is a ruling on Ganier's request that jurors be banned from hearing some evidence at his Aug. 2 trial. The former governor's name is mentioned in a context in which the judge says jurors can hear the prosecution argue its theory that Ganier had connections to the state's chief executive.

The judge's statement about Sundquist doesn't mean the ex-governor committed any crime nor has he been charged with any crime.

In one place, the judge writes, "The defendant is wrong in his assumption that the government has no evidence that Sundquist improperly interceded on behalf of ENA. There is, in fact, some evidence that Sundquist interceded in some way on behalf of ENA with respect to at least one contract..."

And then there is this interesting footnote on page 16 of the judge's order:

It seems that being a friend of the governor was a lucrative thing to be back during the Sundquist administration.

Then again, has it really changed?