Found guilty on 127 federal criminal charges last week, Charles Walker is expected to meet today with a federal probation officer who will begin investigating the former senator, his finances and his companies for a report that will affect what kind of sentence he receives.
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Depending on the length of his punishment, it could be decades before Mr. Walker is eligible to hold public office again in Georgia. His age, coupled with a 15-year-old piece of legislation that was considered an attempt to keep his political foe Ed McIntyre from regaining office, could make it difficult for him to re-enter state politics.
The Democrat-backed measure was known as the "McIntyre bill." It's now a state law, preventing those convicted of crimes involving "moral turpitude" from holding office in Georgia unless they've had their civil rights restored and have been out of jail for at least 10 years without another criminal conviction.
It's widely believed that either Mr. Walker or his mentor, former state Senate Majority Leader Thomas Allgood, pulled strings to usher it through the Legislature at a time when Mr. McIntyre, after serving time in a federal prison for bribery and extortion, was contemplating a run against Mr. Walker for the 22nd District Senate seat.
But the bill's sponsor, former state Sen. Gary Parker, of Columbus, said he introduced it after reading news accounts about Mr. McIntyre and other politicians-turned-convicts seeking office again. He said he was appalled that a convicted felon could run and that the abuse of power offended him, as a black man, because blacks had worked so hard to achieve public office.
"I didn't have any ties to Augusta, and I certainly wouldn't allow myself to be used by anyone from Augusta," said Mr. Parker, now an Atlanta-based deputy director for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council who is representing accused Fulton County courthouse shooter Brian Nichols. "It just got dubbed the 'McIntyre bill.' It was not specifically directed at him. I didn't know him."
With Friday's guilty verdict, Mr. Walker, 57, could face fines and a minimum five-year sentence - possibly much more.
Each of the 123 counts of conspiracy and mail fraud is punishable by up to five years in prison, and the four counts of aiding and abetting filing false tax returns are punishable by up to three years.
Sentencing will be held in two to three months.
The conviction has already stripped him of his Senate seat.
THE "MCINTYRE BILL" was born the same year Mr. Walker won the post that would foster his rise to one of the state's most powerful politicians.
In 1990, Mr. Allgood announced his retirement, and Mr. Walker, his close political ally and a member of the state House, was vying to fill his Senate seat.
In March, Mr. McIntyre scheduled a news conference to announce that he would run against Mr. Walker in the Democratic primary. Mr. McIntyre had run unsuccessfully for the seat against Mr. Allgood two years earlier. Mr. McIntyre had left prison in 1985, after serving 425 days, and his civil rights were restored in 1988.
But when Mr. Parker's bill cleared hurdles in the House and Senate to appear on the November 1990 ballot as a constitutional amendment, the former mayor canceled the news conference. If he had won the election, and the measure passed, it was unclear at the time whether he could take office.
The next month, Mr. McIntyre shifted strategies and announced that he would challenge then-Mayor Charles DeVaney in that year's mayoral election.
That change worked in Mr. Walker's favor. Instead of facing a venerable black leader in the Senate race, Mr. Walker faced lawyer John Bell and defeated him with 51.6 percent of the vote. He went on to become Georgia's first black Senate majority leader.
Mr. McIntyre lost to Mr. DeVaney in October 1990, with the incumbent mayor winning 57.3 percent of the vote. The constitutional amendment was approved that November by 61 percent of Georgia's voters and was adopted in 1991.
Mr. DeVaney said Saturday that he never knew for sure why Mr. McIntyre chose to run for mayor instead of state senator. The legislation would have affected him either way.
"I think there was something more to it," Mr. DeVaney said. "Maybe something about leadership in the black community. Maybe something about having two strong candidates facing each other.
"Or maybe it was just that he wanted his old office back, as that would be more vindication."
Mr. McIntyre tried to challenge the law before the Georgia Supreme Court in 1993, when the county blocked him from being on the ballot in that year's mayoral race.
LEGEND HAS IT that Mr. Walker engineered passage of the bill, even though he voted against it when it came up in the House. Even fellow elected officials believed it was part of a shrewd move to knock out Mr. McIntyre, then distance himself from the fray.
Mr. Parker said he never even talked to Mr. Walker about the legislation. But people believed otherwise, and when he visited Augusta for a political function several years later, he got a cool reception from Mr. McIntyre's supporters, he said.
"Walker had nothing to do with anything," Mr. Parker said. "Allgood had nothing to do with anything."
The final House resolution was offered by House Speaker Tom Murphy and co-sponsored by Augusta Reps. Jack Connell and Mike Padgett. Mr. Connell said Saturday he had no recollection of the bill.
Reached at his home Saturday, Mr. Walker said he didn't remember the measure.
Whatever or whoever was behind the bill, Mr. McIntyre went to his grave blaming Charles Walker for it, according to Dave Barbee, Richmond County Republican Party chairman and Human Relations Commission chairman.
Mr. Barbee said he spoke to Mr. McIntyre about the legislation after Mr. Walker's indictment in June 2004. Mr. McIntyre died Aug. 14.
"Ed said that was just a farce, that Charles was behind it all because he didn't want him to run for the Senate," Mr. Barbee said. "He told me that 'Charles is gonna be caught in the same trap that he set for me years ago.'"
Staff Writer Jeremy Craig contributed to this article.
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
The 'McIntyre bill'
On the ballot: "Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that no person who is not a registered voter or who has been convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude, unless that person's civil rights have been restored and at least 10 years have elapsed from the date of the completion of the sentence without a subsequent conviction or another felony involving moral turpitude, or who is the holder of public funds illegally, shall be eligible to hold any Office or appointment of honor or trust in this state?"
The response: 61 percent of Georgians voted to pass the amendment Nov. 6, 1990.What it means: People convicted of a felony that involves grossly violating moral conduct standards may not hold office for 10 years after finishing a jail sentence, probation or parole.
- From Augusta Chronicle reports
Previous Stories
• Walker must appeal from cell
• Walker receives 10-year sentence
• 'McIntyre bill' now applies to Walker
• What they're saying about the Walker verdict - 06/06/05
• Walker verdict changes politics
• What they're saying about the Walker verdict - 06/05/05
• Jury convicts on 127 of 137 counts
Federal Indictment Documents
(Adobe Reader is required to read these files. Click here for the free reader)
• Full 66-page indictment *Caution: Large document* (pdf)
• Part 1: General Allegations (pdf)
• Penalty Certificate (pdf)
• Scheme to Defraud Advertisers in the Augusta Focus (pdf)
• Scheme to Defraud Involving Grady Memorial Hospital (pdf)
• Scheme to Defraud Involving the Medical College of Georgia (pdf)
• Scheme to Defraud Involving His Political Campaign Account
• Charles & Monique Walker's Scheme to Defraud the C.S.R.A. Classic (pdf)
• The Tax Counts (pdf)
