Here we go again. Marion Williams' son-in-law wants to make it appear the two of them were approached by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation because they're black.

"Now they can start investigating somebody else other than black politicians," said Mark Pugh, son-in-law of the famously combative Augusta commissioner. "I'm sure other people commit crimes, other than black politicians."

Funny he should say that! It's true! In fact, there are a couple of white former state officials from the area - Robin Williams and Linda Schrenko - who sit in prison today for their crimes of ripping off taxpayers.

Oh, and folks surrounding powerful former state Sen. Don Cheeks were investigated after a relative of his sold the state a tract of land for 10 times more than it had been purchased for. And he's white.

Likewise, state authorities did some asking around after Marion Williams' son-in-law, Pugh, purchased a tract of land in 2005 across from a proposed site for a new county drag racing facility - five weeks before the proposed drag race site was made public.

You can't help but wonder how Pugh divined the proposed race track's site when it hadn't been made public. He certainly didn't answer that question for the GBI. Pugh refused to speak to an agent without a lawyer present. A follow-up interview was never scheduled.

Even after the GBI has apparently closed its so-called "preliminary review," exactly what Pugh knew about the proposed drag strip still hasn't been sufficiently explained.

Pugh has suggested he learned it in a conversation with track promoter Leo Charette, but Charette has said his recollection was that the conversation came after the track site was made public Sept. 20, 2005.

Pugh had even called the company that purchased the land "Drag Snacks." So it's fairly obvious he knew what was planned across the street.

As it turns out, the track never happened, after the landowner - the Development Authority of Richmond County - chose not to sell.

And even though the GBI concluded there was no crime, that does not mean the incident was without impropriety. It remains possible that Williams, the track's most fervent local proponent, could have divulged the location prior to Sept. 20, though he denies it.

The location wasn't necessarily a secret in the months leading up to the Sept. 20 announcement, but it was closely held. If any local official with such knowledge were to leak the location - particularly to a relative - that would be dirty pool indeed, and extremely unfair to other citizens who might be interested in jumping on board.

There was a distinct odor wafting from the land deal involving Cheeks' relative, and this little episode smells no fresher.

Regardless of how Pugh got the information, or whether its dissemination was a crime, the caper only serves to add to the already thick air of cynicism that has surrounded Augusta politics in recent years.

We were hoping we'd gotten past that, but apparently not.