Federal trial linked to John Wiley Price corruption case reveals aggressive lobbying efforts

Federal trial linked to John Wiley Price corruption case reveals aggressive lobbying efforts Kevin Krause

Christian Campbell

The federal trial of an Austin businesswoman who played a key role in a Dallas County bribery scheme involving Commissioner John Wiley Price has shed light on the unsavory world of corporate lobbying for North Texas government contracts.

Helena Tantillo, 59, was found guilty last Friday of two counts of lying to the FBI in connection with the Price bribery investigation. She faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced later this year.

Kathy Nealy

Tantillo, a former BearingPoint executive, was put in charge of the firm’s successful 2004 effort to win a multi-million county document imaging contract.

Prosecutors said she approved a $7,500 payment to Kathy Nealy, a veteran consultant who managed Price’s campaign. Nealy then wrote a check for $2,500 to Price for his vote to keep BearingPoint in the running after failing to make an initial cut, according to the government.

Some bribery cases involve large donations directly to politicians. But recent history shows the schemes often operate somewhat differently in Dallas County. The Dallas City Hall corruption scandal that broke in 2007 revealed in great detail how political consultants are used as middlemen to steer money to politicians for their votes. Nealy reportedly avoided prosecution in that case by agreeing to testify for the government.

Consultants are once again at the heart of a federal corruption case – this one against Price and Nealy.

Christian Campbell, a former Dallas consultant and likely future witness against Price, took the stand last week at Tantillo’s trial and described some of the strategies he used to “curry favor” with politicians who had the ability to award lucrative contracts to his clients. It involved money.

Campbell has pleaded guilty to bribery and agreed to cooperate with the government. Price and Nealy deny any wrongdoing. Their trial is scheduled to begin in September.

One BearingPoint email shown to the jury last week noted that Commissioner Mike Cantrell was chairman of Dallas County’s IT Steering Committee and that Price was vice chairman.

“This is whom our lobbyist needs to get to,” the BearingPoint executive wrote, referring to the two commissioners. “We need to make sure we get to orals.”

That referred to the next round of decision-making in which the finalists make oral presentations before the commissioners.

Another BearingPoint email, from 2006, described Nealy’s value and why it was worth keeping her on the county contract. This was after another company executive questioned in an email whether to keep her on, saying they were not engaging her “services” very much.

“She is very close to the strongest commissioner, Commissioner Price,” Tantillo wrote in the email.

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