JAMES PICKETT WESBERRY Jr >>>> PERSONAL WEBSITE

SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR OF CORRUPTION IN STATE GOVERNMENT 1959-60

Introduction to Jim Wesberry
GIVING THANKS
E-MAGAZINES CURATED BY JIM
LA IMPORTANCIA DEE LA ETICA DEL FUNCIONARIO PUBLICO
ARTIFICIALIDAD vs VERACIDAD (AI)
ARTIFICIALITY vs VERACITY for Peruvian JCI Senate
THE REAL INVISIBLE HAND / LA MANO INVISIBLE VERDADERA ............(traducción en español más abajo)
THE FALTERING EAGLE: Speech made in 1970
CLEPTOCRACIA 1990 articulo para el 25 aniversario de ILACIF
ENFRENTANDO LA CORRUPCION EN TIEMPOS DE COVID, Conferencia - Profesionales del Bicentenario del Perú
ETICA E INTEGRIDAD, Congreso Organos Internos de Control, del Estado de Guanajuato, Mexico via Zoom
EL IMPACTO DE LA INTEGRIDAD, presentación en el Foro ISAF de Sonora, Mexico via Zoom
Donde fueron nuestros valores? Como podemos recuperarlos?
75 ANIVERSARIO DE LA Federación Nacional de Contadores del Ecuador
VIDEO: El Auditor Frente sus Tres Mayores Desafíos
MIAMI KEYNOTE: Public Financial Management, 2016
CONFERENCIA: CONTROL INTERNO Y ÉTICA: ESTARÍAN PERTINENTES EN 2025?
CONFERENCIA 6a Conferencia de Auditores Ecuador: El Auditor Interno Frente sus Tres Mayores Desafios
CONFERENCIA CReCER 2015: Empresas Estales en Busca de Etica---State Enterprises in Search of Ethics
CONFERENCIA QUITO HONESTO: Ambiente Etico = Municipio Eficiente: Principios de Conducta Etica, 2014
DOCTORADO HONORIS CAUSA - UNIVERSIDAD INCA GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, LIMA, PERU - 2013
DECORATION BY THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT 1972
My Work in Peru / Mi trabajo en el Perú
CONFERENCIA EN HUANUCO, PERU - El Auditor enfrenta la Erupcion de Corrup$ion del Siglo XXI -2013
CONFERENCIAS EN CHILE - 3 Mayores Desafios al Auditor Interno - 2012 - VIDEO y TEXTO
THE CONTINUING FINANCIAL CRISIS
GEORGIA CORRUPTION ON MY MIND
Personal Information
My Resume (in English)
Mi Curriculum Vitae (en español)
Personal Photo Album
ACTIVITIES & EVENTS INITIATED
The Top Quartile of Life
AMERICA IN DECLINE? The Life Cycle of a Great Power
ACCOUNTANCY & AUDITING: MY CHOSEN PROFESSION
SERVICE AS PAGE IN US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1949-51
SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR OF CORRUPTION IN STATE GOVERNMENT 1959-60
LEGENDS: Georgians Who Lived Impossible Dreams
Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 US 1 Landmark US House Reapportionment Case
POLITICS - MY FIRST CAMPAIGN 1961
POLITICS - ELECTION TO GEORGIA STATE SENATE 1962
GA POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION
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LA TRANSFORMACION POLÍTICA DE GEORGIA DE 1963
Press Clips from Georgia Senate Service
The Best Speech I Ever Made
Why I Quit the Georgia Senate
Congressional Testimony
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Contador Benemerito de las Americas (Most Meritorious Accountant of the Americas)
Articles from The Journal of Accountancy
My Credo
Media
Interview about Leadership
ACCOUNTABILITY - RESPONDABILIDAD
THE EVER GROWING, EVER STIFLING BUREACRACY
PONZIS and PIRAMIDES
GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF US DEBT
CALCULATE YOUR DEBT LIABILITY
Fraud-Corruption-Bribery
Collusion Breaks Internal Controls
FORENSIC AUDITING --- AUDITORIA FORENSE
FRIENDSHIP - AMISTAD
Creencia - Belief
Think -------- Pensar
WOMAN -------------- MUJER
Dawn
Message to Garcia - Mensaje a García
THE GREATEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME
Education
Interesting!
POEMS
ATLANTA, GEORGIA USA - MY HOME TOWN
WASHINGTON DC - MY OTHER HOME TOWN
PERU
ECUADOR
MEXICO
PHILIPPINES
Importancia de la Etica del Funcionaio Publico
Conferencia Senado JCI Perú
COLOMBIA VS KLEPTOKAKISTOCRACIA: Presentación para el Día Internacional Anti-Corrupción 2011
LECTURE AT MANILA'S UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST: Integrity & Honor, Corruption & Dishonor VIDEO
MANILA LECTURES AT FAR EASTERN & SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITIES: Good Governance and Social Responsibility
EFFECT OF 2008 GLOBAL CRISIS (JW presentation in English)
SEGUNDA GRAN DEPRESION 2010 (JW presentaciónes en español)
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Last Page

In my early years many wonderful opportunities for gaining professional experience came my way, but perhaps the most interesting and unusual one was the opportunity to work as a special investigator with a crack team of ex-FBI agents when I was just 25 years old.

Special Investigator Criminal Division of the

State Law Department of Georgia, 1959-60

In the decade of the 1950’s a number of scandals broke out in the administration of the State of Georgia.  They were first investigated by local authorities and highly publicized in the media. In November, 1958 a new governor, Ernest Vandiver, was elected promising to clean up corruption. Unlike many politicians he was serious about it.  He established the “Criminal Division” in the Attorney General’s Office (officially called the State Law Department) but with a secret provision[1] that it reported directly to the Governor, not to the Attorney General, who was a separately elected official who had held office for many years.

The Criminal Division was set up under a career Assistant Attorney General with a sterling record of professional character and ethics, Robert H. (Bob) Hall, who some years later was named to high State and Federal Judgeships. Its small staff was composed of three retired ex-FBI agents and two secretaries.  J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI had always paired attorney investigators with accountants and the ex-FBI agents recommended that the Criminal Division add a CPA to aid them in the financial side of the investigations.

In searching for a qualified CPA they approached Mount & Carter, the firm that I was working with because it had become known for performing some high profile governmental audits involving investigations. Since I was the auditor that had done most of this kind of work, the firm sent me to talk with Bob Hall. He and the ex-FBI agents outlined the work that was expected of an accountant working with the team indicating that it would be part time but could involve a large amount of time during the coming two years. It turned out that Bob knew my father and he took a special interest in me. Privately he commented, “Jim, if you ever thought of starting your own CPA practice this would be the ideal opportunity.” Such a thought had never crossed my mind until that moment. At that time I had only four years experience and was very happy working for Mount & Carter, then the leading local CPA firm in Atlanta, but it was not a “national” firm like Price Waterhouse or Arthur Andersen.  Those were the firms I aspired to work for some day. I had maintained hopes that M & C might eventually merge with one of the national firms but Mr. W. J. Carter, the dynamic Senior Partner was adamant that he would never merge. Besides that he had two sons working in the firm, one already a partner, who were ahead of me in seniority and well as right to inherit the firm. I had skyrocketed to success in the firm from a semi-senior accountant to a senior manager in few years gaining unparalleled experience in government auditing and investigatory work. I was very happy there and really had no wish to leave.

But as I thought the matter through I concluded that I had not much further to progress in a family dominated firm that would not consider merger with a national firm. So I decided that Bob had a brilliant idea for me.  I worked out the arrangements with him and then resigned from Mount & Carter and announced the formation of my own firm.  Years later M & C did finally merge with Coopers & Lybrand and many, many years later that firm merged with Price Waterhouse. I have often wondered how different my career would have been had I stayed with M & C. I am sure I would have earned a lot more money, but I doubt that I would have enjoyed my professional career half as much.

Because I was by far the youngest and most innocent looking of the Criminal Division team, I often was called upon by my older ex-FBI mentors to carry out undercover or “special” assignments, always under their expert tutelage. I “wore a wire” many times…a special portable recorder to record conversations with suspects. I mean a real wire…a wire recorder, the kind used before tape recorders were invented. It recorded conversations on a roll of wire that was very limited as to time as the wire was rather thick. The machine was also rather large, about 4” x 6” x 1”.  It had to be strapped to my chest in the cavity above my stomach using wide adhesive tape as it was also quite heavy. My ex-FBI colleagues wrapped the tape fully around my entire body so the apparatus would not fall out of place. The fun began (for them) when it came time to rip off the tape. The only way was to pull it off rapidly. That really hurt. I was the only team member honored with the privilege of wearing the wire. To the best of my recollection we never got any useful evidence by using it. All that was accomplished was the removal of a great deal of hair from the upper part of my torso.

One time we set up a very sophisticated audio and video session to record an expected bribe attempt.  I waited in a drive-in restaurant in my convertible, top down, with the wire recorder in the glove compartment (that had to be partially open so I could cut it on and so the microphone would pick up the conversation). Across from me was an unmarked truck with a very large camera courtesy of a local TV station set to capture images through its back window.  The rather extensive plan was to put the recorded conversation and the video together. The TV station would have a scoop. There was only one problem.  The subject apparently suspected or was tipped off and never showed up.

Our use of the polygraph was equally unsuccessful.  I had used it previously in connection with a Fulton County audit suspected thief to no avail as the subject drugged himself so thoroughly that he showed no reaction when questioned.  Our results were about the same.  I finally concluded that technology was not the answer to criminal investigations.  How times have changed!

The Criminal Division launched numerous investigations but principally concentrated on corruption in the previous administration of former Governor Marvin Griffin, the main objective of its creation by Governor Vandiver.

During 1959-61, there were more and more exposures and news reports about alleged corruption involving the former governor's friends and cronies, especially his brother, Cheney Griffin. Most of our investigations were directed toward Cheney and State Purchasing Department officials but in a few cases we attempted to get evidence directly involving the ex-governor. Based upon reports of financial irregularities that could be proven by gaining access to the ex-governor’s bank accounts, my daring colleagues prepared me for a highly secret mission.  I was to go the Bainbridge, Georgia and present myself at the First National Bank and by prearrangement obtain access to the ex-governors bank account records. I was told that since it was illegal to use an assumed name to register at the motel and present myself at the bank, I should use my first and middle name only.

So I drove to Bainbridge one Monday morning, registered in a motel as James Pickett, and went to the bank where the officer expecting me sat me down in a room with the ex-governor’s records. All was going splendidly and I saw enough the really arouse my interest when the bank officer called me to the telephone.  One of my ex-FBI buddies sounding sincerely worried said, “Jim, you’ve got to get out of there right now. They are on to us. Now listen carefully, tell the bank you have an urgent reason to leave, go back slowly in your car to the motel and check out, and drive slowly out of the town and the county. Do not do anything suspicious or rash and be careful not to drive fast even if followed so they can’t get you for speeding. We are afraid your life may be in danger.” The next hour was one of the longest of my life but by following instructions I gradually left Bainbridge behind and sped all the way back to Atlanta.  When I got there I found that my ex-FBI colleagues were almost frantic with fear that I had been apprehended because I had failed to stop and telephone them from along the way that I was OK. It made me feel good that they cared and our team came to be even closer thought the trip was a complete failure.

I was given two credentials as an investigator. One correctly stated that I was a Special Investigator for the Criminal Division of the State Law Department. The other, the one I used more frequently, stated that I was Sales Tax Investigator for the State Department of Revenue. It got me into many businesses without setting off alarms about investigating corruption.

We received many allegations of all kinds. One interesting tip was about the possible ownership by a high state official of an interest in an abortion clinic. Yours truly was wired and sent into the clinic alone using the Sales Tax Investigator credential.  At that time abortion was a felony in Georgia and most everywhere. I got into the records but could not prove who owned the business. Results were similar in other businesses I visited but occasionally I hit pay dirt while going through financial records. What I learned was that when investigating financial crimes against the state one must be extremely patient when a hoped for source of evidence fails to pan out. We were more successful where we had whistleblower allegations from fairly reliable sources.

Back in those times we never pursued sexual adventures by suspects unless they involved theft of state moneys and the press never would have published salacious goings on. For example I and another colleague interviewed the girl friend of the married Assistant State Purchasing agent and confirmed with her and with automobile dealer records that she had received a new car as a gift from her lover.  The media following the case learned all about this but only published the details of the use of state funds omitting the sexual connotations. How times have changed!

Before the Criminal Division was set up by the governor Fulton County had named a special prosecutor to investigate corruption in the Griffin administration and had exposed a great deal. One of the main exposes was a tractor dealer who sold hundreds of tractors to the state and its counties every year in spite of strict procurement laws and regulations requiring competitive bidding.

H. Candler Jones was a star John Deere tractor dealer who had set up individual tractor sales companies in many of the 159 Georgia counties. He practically controlled all public tenders and procurements of tractors by the State and its counties through blatant fraudulent practices.

Jones was spectacularly successful in selling tractors across the entire state because he was able to place the minimum three bids for any sale from three of his companies. Collusion from inside the State Purchasing Department assured that only Jones’ companies received the bid requests. Thus he was bidding against himself and had no competition. By the time we started investigating him Jones had already been exposed and, in fact caught in the act of attempted bribery.

My job, of course, was to examine Jones’ companies accounting records looking for evidence of payoffs and bribes as well as for proof that he was controlling all the bids. The latter was easy as I examined the bid documents themselves in the State Purchasing Department and found that Jones had been so confident that he would actually fill out the three bid proposals simultaneously showing three different tractor company names but all signed by him with his own name.  And he frequently signed them with a ballpoint pen on top of each other so that we could actually see the imprint of the signature of one upon the face of the other two. Experts from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation also proved that all three bids in many cases were prepared on the same typewriter in Jones main office.

What we needed was proof that the scheme reached up through the State Purchasing Department to the governor himself or his brother, who we knew handled most of his dirty work. I delved into the subpoenaed voluminous accounting books, bank statements and cancelled checks of the Jones various businesses. Finally one day I found the first record of a check paid to Cheney Griffin, the governor’s brother. Pulling out the cancelled checks I quickly located the check itself with Cheney Griffin’s endorsement on it. I scanned forward and found another similar entry and cancelled check a month later.  And from there on I found monthly checks that represented kick backs for the franchise to sell almost all tractors every year throughout the state. Cheney was actually on a monthly retainer from Candler Jones to buy his influence in state government. This became our biggest case.

We gathered and confirmed all the evidence and soon Cheney Griffin was indicted and faced trial. Jones after his own indictment finally accepted his fate and very reluctantly turned state’s evidence at the highly publicized trial of the governor's brother.  I and many others testified at the trial believing that we had an open and shut case. Much of our voluminous evidence was thrown out by the judge for various technical reasons but a lot of evidence was admitted.

However, through the efforts of the Georgia’s then most brilliant, astute and theatrical defense attorney, Bobby Lee Cook, the jury failed to convict the former governor’s brother in spite of what we believed was overwhelming evidence. Cook drank heavily as he defended his clients and was reputed to become more and more eloquent and persuasive the more alcohol he consumed. In another similar case according to witnesses he actually wobbled out of the Fulton County Courthouse after winning and fell all the way down the broad steep steps to the bottom and passed out.

Perhaps I should point out that in those times it was not a frequent thing for a public official to be charged with corruption, was even less frequent that he might be actually indicted and was extremely rare for him to be found guilty. If trials ever got to juries in extreme and blatant cases they were even then very generous as it seemed that stealing from the government was not nearly as bad as stealing from individuals. The type investigations the Criminal Division carried out had never been done before in the state. The main punishment that a corrupt official received was to have his name besmirched in the press if the case was high profile. I hate to say it but Georgia then was one of the most corrupt states in the country.  I sincerely hope that has changed over the passing years.

With his brother “exonerated,” even though he was besmirched by many other charges of corruption, ex-Governor Griffin retained great popularity due to colorful populist stances, strong support for “education” (increasing school teachers’ pay) and had maintained a powerful political machine. He immediately began a campaign for a second term in the governorship as the strongest candidate.  His main opponent, Carl Sanders, a much younger State senator, campaigned on an anti-corruption platform emphasizing all the scandals reported by the Criminal Division and the media. Predictions were that Griffin would win.

I was a precinct chairman for Sanders and one day in talking to a friend from the Atlanta Jaycees, Larry Lloyd who was working with Sanders I suggested that they make check-sized photocopies of the numerous checks payable to Cheney Griffin that we had found and have Sanders toss many copies out to the crowds at political rallies as he spoke about the Griffin administration’s corrupt practices.

I’m not sure that swung the election but Marvin Griffin lost the 1962 Democratic primary thus ending his political career and Carl Sanders became governor. Despite his strong and successful anti-corruption campaign, Sanders did not retain the Criminal Division of the State Law Department. When local newspapers launched a campaign for its restoration, now Governor Sanders rejected the idea. I was now a State Senator and proposed a bill to restore the Criminal Division that was rejected overwhelmingly by the legislature.

The Criminal Division had served its purpose of destroying the re-election possibilities of Marvin Griffin, but nobody in the political power structure of the state wanted to continue to investigate others. It was unthinkable at that time…and I fear it still may be.

I had gained priceless experience and confidence in fighting corruption in government that stood me well in later years when I went to Latin America.

Many years later I had a chance encounter with Governor Vandiver in a store while back in Atlanta doing some Christmas shopping. To my surprise, after greeting and thanking me, he told me that the investigations by the Criminal Division were the aspect of his administration of which he was the most proud. I believe he was a sincere and honest public official.  I have rarely said that about anyone.


[1]  The Governor met secretly with the Attorney General and obtained his approval for this unique “political” arrangement.  It was done because the governor did not trust the Attorney General to prosecute corruption vigorously. It was accepted by the Attorney General because he was not in a political position to vigorously prosecute corruption but did not want to incur the enmity of the new Governor. As a result the progress and evidence of the investigations conducted were kept secret from the state’s own Attorney General until they became public.

Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect

                     --- Mark Twain

We have never observed a great civilization with a population as old as the United States will have in the twenty-first century; we have never observed a great civilization that is as secular as we are apparently going to become; and we have had only half a century of experience with advanced welfare states...Charles Murray

Kella
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