HOLD THE PRESSES AS THE "CESSPOOL" EXPLODES: Contractor Leonard Lawson & Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert INDICTED.

Just as I called it here.

Read more on the C-J, and here.

Read the indictment.

Can you spell F-E-D-E-R-A-L P-R-I-S-O-N!?!

Inquiring minds want to know if these folks will "squeal" to save their necks.

If they do, which I suspect someone will, some more indictments are STILL coming as the U. S. Attorney's office has promised.

And the indictments will reach higher up the chain of command.

Update: I forgot to especially mention that the penalty for counts 1 and 6 are up to 5 years imprisonment, and on the rest of the 8 counts is up to 10 years inprisonment.

In addition, each of the 8 counts also carries a fine of a quarter of a million dollars.

But MOST IMPORTANT of all is that the charges also carry restitution; that in lay man's terms means money paid back to the victim(s).

Since the indictment alleges that the total amount of the FRAUDULENT contracts is $1,129,969,573.58, and over $300,000.00 that was paid to those indicted by Leonard Lawson, can't you begin to sense that there is a lot of restitution that a court will possibly order be paid back to us -- the victims of this crime -- in this case?

Update #2: This other guy, Brian Russell Billings, was also indicted:


Update #3: Here is Steve Beshear's statement:

“For too long, the important work of the Transportation Cabinet – and of its thousands of conscientious employees – has been tainted by misguided leadership and a culture of cronyism and corruption.

"Eliminating this culture, a culture we inherited, has been one of our chief goals – and biggest challenges.

We welcome and have cooperated fully with this federal investigation into the previous administration, recognizing its potential for helping us scrub clean this cabinet.

At the same time, we have instituted new policies, created new practices and have carried out strict ethics standards at the cabinet – all designed to maximize the taxpayer dollars and trust invested in us.

I was elected to create a culture of integrity at the Transportation Cabinet and throughout state government, and I intend to do so. I hope for a quick and thorough conclusion to this legal process. For Kentuckians who like us are dedicated to clean, honest and efficient government, this is a day of hope."

Update #4: Not sure what this means from the indictment, do you?:

On or about March 7, 2008, LEONARD V. LAWSON spoke by phone from Florida with James Rummage in Lexington. Among other things, LEONARD V. LAWSON told James Rummage that he shouldn’t worry about the investigation into leaking engineer estimates because (1) he and CHARLES WILLIAM “BILL” NIGHBERT had “covered everything that you said;” (2) that LEONARD V. LAWSON has talked to the Governor about the mistreatment of James Rummage; (3) that the Governor said it was going to stop; (4) that “Youve said what you said and that’s all you need to say;” and (5) that “There’s a lot of people that I know you — a lot of people would dream up stuff to say if they could help you.”

Stay tuned for more.

Here's more by way of update #4, according to Poll Watchers:

In his statement, Beshear did not mention a reference to him in the indictment.

A section on page 11 of the indictment said that on March 7, 2008, Lawson spoke by phone to Rummage and told him that he should not worry about the FBI investigation in part because he had talked to Beshear about the mistreatment of Rummage and that Beshear replied that it was going to stop.

Beshear spokesman Jay Blanton said Lawson and Beshear did talk to each other by phone about that time but the conversation did not deal with Rummage.

"It was about Lawson's intention that his company was not being treated fairly by the state," Blanton said. "The governor told him that he expects people to be treated honestly and fairly."

Blanton said he did nothing about Lawson's call because he already had told Transportation Secretary Joe Prather to treat everyone honestly and fairly.

Blanton added that Beshear has not testified before the grand jury but he did talk to investigators.

Stay tuned for more updates.