Jackson Free Press

In an email circulated Wednesday night, the Jonathan Lee campaign accused Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. of funneling big contracts for legal representation of the city to his campaign contributors.

The email, signed at the bottom by Lee's Deputy Campaign Manager Jared Turner, says Johnson "failed to mention he has received $13,750 in campaign contributions from a prominent law firm, and coincidentally, they were in turn awarded $170,000 worth of work as part of the $90 million Siemens water system deal with the city."

That charge can only refer to prominent southeastern firm Baker Donelson, which is based out of Huntsville, Tenn., and has 18 offices in seven states, including one in Jackson. The Jackson City Council voted 4-0 to approve the contract with Baker Donelson on Dec. 17, 2012, according to council minutes.

According to campaign-finance records, Baker Donelson did contribute $1,000 to the Johnson campaign 13 days before they were named Bond Counsel for the city and $1,000 through their Political Action Committee Baker Donelson MS PAC on May 13, 2009, for the last mayoral race. That's nowhere near the $13,750 figure Lee's campaign said the firm donated.

The second accusation the email leveled against Johnson is that a local attorney contributed $16,500 to Johnson's campaign and was subsequently awarded a $100,000 contract on the Siemens deal. Those lawyers were Sam Begley and Betty Mallett, two Jackson attorneys who underwrote the bond issuance.

In this instance, Lee's campaign is spot on.

Both lawyers have supported Johnson in the past. Records from a report filed Feb. 5, 2009 show Begley donated $16,000 to Johnson's campaign. The JFP previously reported that Begley had only given $500 in 2009. When we asked for Johnson's 2009 campaign finance reports at the City Clerk's office, this report, showing Begley's contribution, was not included.

Reached by phone on Friday afternoon, Begley said the contribution, which appeared Johnson's finance report filed Feb. 5, 2009, but has a date of Feb. 23, 2006, was payment on a loan.

In the final stretches of the 2005 mayoral race between Johnson and Frank Melton, Begley said Johnson's campaign took out a $50,000 loan. Begley, business owner Andrew Jenkins, Neel-Schaffer co-owner Gorman Schaffer, developer Socrates Garrett and David Watkins combined to guarantee the loan. When the campaign didn't repay the debt, all five of the co-guarantors were on the hook.

They paid the money back in 2006, which Johnson reported in his 2008 report.

That $100,000 Begley and Mallett received was the total fee for both lawyers, which Begley says they split evenly between them.

The Lee campaign did not provide backup documentation for its claims, and would not comment for this story.