It should be no surprise to InsiderAdvantage Georgia readers that Adam Smith, the city of Atlanta’s one-time top purchasing officer hand-picked by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, pleaded guilty yesterday as part of a conspiracy involving taking bribes to help an unnamed vendor win city contracts.
IAG has previously reported that Smith has been coming clean with FBI investigators about major players in a pay-to-play scandal occurring under the Reed administration. Expect more federal indictments of participants in this contract conspiracy.
The only question is the timing.
There is an internal debate within the U.S. Attorney’s office among prosecutors and FBI investigators as to whether announcing new indictments now would be too close to the city’s Nov. 7 mayoral and City Council elections. And more layers of the conspiracy need to be uncovered, and collecting such evidence takes time.
Smith was charged with a single count of conspiracy in a probe that has already garnered guilty pleas from two contractors who have agreed to testify against others. Smith has also agreed to testify on behalf of the government in exchange for his plea. This should have some elected officials in city government more nervous than ever.
The FBI, according to our sources, has collected a treasure trove of information from Smith’s computer and his admissions.
Furthermore, how this scandal impacts the Atlanta mayoral race will be fascinating to watch in days and weeks to come.
