Yet More Shady Dealings

A reader sent a link to this Nashville NewsChannel 5 story looking at the awarding of the printing contract for Tennessee lottery tickets:

Last year, GTECH -- the contractor that runs Tennessee's on-line games -- handed a multimillion-dollar printing subcontract to Gibson and his company, called Tec-Print LLC....

But get this: Gibson's company had NO experience. In fact, it did not even exist before GTECH put it into the printing business....

One company that didn't come up a winner was A1 Printing Service in Memphis, which touts itself as the state's largest minority printing company.

"We are not some fly-by-night company versus the bid that was awarded to a fly-by-night company that did not exist until GTECH, until the lottery came about," A1 president Frazer Windless complained to the legislature's lottery committee back in February 2004....

And who does J.W. Gibson know?

"I consider Representative Larry Miller to be a good friend of mine."

State Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, heads the House subcommittee where any lottery legislation -- legislation affecting GTECH -- lives or dies.

"Do you think he put in a good word for you?" Williams asks.

"I hope so, I hope so," Gibson replies.

In fact, even before Tennessee's lottery was approved, Gibson admits he and Miller went to GTECH offices in Atlanta together to discuss opportunities for minority businesses.

Miller says they also made a trip to Miami to make business contacts at a meeting of gambling industry figures....

What is it about Tennessee politicians and Miami? I'd really like to know.

And just days after J.W. Gibson got his big printing contract, Miller's campaign got a little something from Gibson.

"You gave him a thousand dollars last year?" Williams asks.

"A thousand dollars?" Gibson responds. "That makes me close?"

Yeah, nothing to see here. Just move along.

Memphis needs reporters like WTVF's Phil Williams. What we need is a news station to string together a narrative, to paint a mosaic, to resolve the picture of the pointillist mosaic of Memphis politics, rather than constantly flicking individual cards from a deck every day. It's like having someone play a measure or two of a symphony, bit by bit, day after day, jumping from instrument to instrument, but never playing the whole piece for us. I suspect if someone at one of the news departments ever did that, ever did a news special that traced all the connections and all the histories, it would cause a shockwave.

But I'm not holding my breath.