I don’t know of anybody in the Black community who has worked with Don Hill that would consider him a "financial mastermind" capable of out witting the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s office and the IRS for two years by executing complex financial transactions geared to laundering thousands of dollars! But that is what the Feds would have us believe is the reason it took them so long to bring these indictments. I literally burst out laughing when one Dallas Morning News column quoted federal agents calling Don Hill "a kingpin surrounded by cronies."

If federal agents had two years of wire taps and the testimony of confidential informants, how did they manage to only get incriminating information on Black folks? How could they have this much information on the goings on at City Hall and never have even subpoenaed a white City Council member or a white Planning Commission member for questioning or for their records? One must not forget that African-Americans were not in the majority on the Planning Commission or the City Council so one has to believe that discussions took place between the indicted Black officials and their white counterparts in order to get the votes necessary to keep the deals outlined in the indictments going. Are we also expected to believe that the Potashniks and Southwest Housing had no dealings with white council members? Then there is the issue of former Mayor Laura Miller’s relationship with Southwest Housing. It is a matter of public record that Mayor Miller had received a great deal of money for her mayoral campaigns from the Potashniks. Yet, Mayor Miller was never subjected to the indignity of being subpoenaed to testify or give information about their relationship or to even have her records examined like some African-Americans unfairly caught up in the probe. Most of them had no exposure to the Potashniks.

The Black political community has not been as severely impacted as many thought we would be after the indictments. State Representative Terri Hodge is in office and fairly active in local politics. As a matter of fact, she is the only Black elected official supporting Angela Hunt and the anti-toll road forces. Her indictment will certainly have some bearing on the anti-toll road forces in the southern sector. Mr. Fantroy has been sick and Don Hill has struggled to remain viable politically after the mayoral election. None of the current Black City Council members are impacted by the indictments. Four other African-Americans who were indicted play absolutely no role in the Black political community. As for Darren Reagan and the Black State Employees Association, I have written about them for years. As a matter of fact, I was sued by Mr. Reagan some years ago for writing about the very activities the U. S. Attorney has just indicted him for. In the Reagan case, I wonder what took the government so long.

All of the defendants are innocent until proven guilty. What we have just been bombarded with is the prosecution’s side of this case. I am sure that when the defense gets an opportunity to unveil their case, much of what we have heard from the government will come under question, especially the prosecution interpretation of taped conversations between the defendants. Many of us will pay particular attention to the identities of the Black people who worked for the prosecution to make these cases. As I have previously reported, former Councilman James Fantroy told me that Commissioner John Wiley Price’s confidante and political consultant, Kathy Neely, was an informant for the prosecution in this investigation. If that turns out to be true, it will have more impact on the Black political community then all of the 16 indictments combined. "At least that is how I see it from South of the Trinity."

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