Former suburban Atlanta GOP Congressman Pat Swindall... remember him?... has died (College Park: lease, house)

[atler8]

Only 67 at the time of his death, Swindall had a remarkably sudden & quick rise to political prominence but then flamed out in disgrace, was convicted of criminal activity and sent to prison.
Overall, it was a shocking episode in Georgia politics.
Your memories & thoughts please..

Curiously, our local AJC has no coverage to this point.
The Wikipedia entry found below the Washington Post link fleshes out his life with a bit more detail.
Swindall's political career was one of the more surprising & controversial episodes in terms of the history of metro Atlanta's Congressional representation.
Given that he was indicted nearly 30 years ago & left the U.S. House, it's possible that a majority of Atlantans on this forum do not know of him or of his indictments for money laundering & the eventual conviction for perjury.

As long-timers here may recall, several years prior to Swindall's departure from the House after losing his bid for a 3rd term, there was an even bigger political fall from grace by powerful Democratic Senator Herman Talmadge who was censured by the Senate in 1979 for financial improprieties & lost his re-election campaign in 1980.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.b4b355d487c1


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Swindall

[Gulch]

All I'll say is that may he rest in peace.

[Iconographer]

Fellow graduate of Briarcliff High School. He was four years ahead of me.

Godspeed, Pat.

[Atlwarrior]

In all due respect, we can at least honor the honorable parts of his life. Even the most so called self righteous has dirt and indecent behavior. I just hate how people always try to uncover the bad in people. Its very bad in this region. RIP in peace sir, and thanks for your service.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by atler8

Only 67 at the time of his death, Swindall had a remarkably sudden & quick rise to political prominence but then flamed out in disgrace, was convicted of criminal activity and sent to prison.
Overall, it was a shocking episode in Georgia politics.
Your memories & thoughts please..

Curiously, our local AJC has no coverage to this point.
The Wikipedia entry found below the Washington Post link fleshes out his life with a bit more detail.
Swindall's political career was one of the more surprising & controversial episodes in terms of the history of metro Atlanta's Congressional representation.
Given that he was indicted nearly 30 years ago & left the U.S. House, it's possible that a majority of Atlantans on this forum do not know of him or of his indictments for money laundering & the eventual conviction for perjury.

As long-timers here may recall, several years prior to Swindall's departure from the House after losing his bid for a 3rd term, there was an even bigger political fall from grace by powerful Democratic Senator Herman Talmadge who was censured by the Senate in 1979 for financial improprieties & lost his re-election campaign in 1980.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.b4b355d487c1


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Swindall

The AJC covered the story 3 days ago:

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/forme...kJt7H3Ul6qYJP/

[atler8]

Originally Posted by Beretta

The AJC covered the story 3 days ago:

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/forme...kJt7H3Ul6qYJP/

Thanks for finding & posting that link from the AJC.
I've been searching in vain for their coverage. Oddly enough though it's not an article that's original with the AJC but rather it's from the Associated Press.
Were you living in metro Atlanta when Swindall was in office, Beretta?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Atlwarrior

In all due respect, we can at least honor the honorable parts of his life. Even the most so called self righteous has dirt and indecent behavior. I just hate how people always try to uncover the bad in people. Its very bad in this region. RIP in peace sir, and thanks for your service.

Yes, all well and good if Mr Swindall had learned from his experience in Congress. However...

"In June 2009, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Swindall and two of his fired employees for making illegal campaign contributions to Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd. The businessmen were indicted for making false statements because they said that Swindall was the actual source of the contributions. The donations were reported on Sheperd's campaign disclosure forms as coming from other people, including family and friends of the two former employees.

In November 2009, he was involved in a confrontation with tenants at a flea market location he had formerly leased; Swindall left after College Park code enforcement officers and police arrived.[12] He wanted to remove the walls that delineate the individual stalls within the flea market. Swindall also wanted to remove other structures belonging to him, but the request was denied this by the College Park Police."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Swindall

[arjay57]

I knew Pat. May he rest in peace.