Benjamin GUILTY; e-mail is the smoking gun in bad paperwork caper

"I'm a not a crook” ...just a document dodger.

While the public was left aghast from testimony that Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin partied with exotic dancers on a business trip; was linked to a $50,000 pay-out; and a claim of influence-peddling, Big Media is wringing its hands of a disclosure form oversight.

The  egregious documenting omission hardly reaches the level of Al Capone and the IRS.

Based on social media reaction, the last thing the people care about is an ethics commission snafu. But The State newspaper has latched onto Benjamin's claim that an up-to $8,000 trip to a swank hotel in Florida, should have been reported as business for the City of Columbia. Benjamin said it was a personal trip.

Benjamin’s attorney says Benjamin took the trip to explore private business opportunities, not for mayor business.

But in an e-mail: a wealthy, and already-found-guilty associate of Benjamin's, says: it was “an honor to meet you and discuss your vision for the city of Columbia. The convicted company owner also suggests a development workshop to discuss “a possible strategy for the city of Columbia.”

Last week in an editorial, The State lambastes Benjamin, not for an appearance of crime or immorality, but for not filing a report to the ethics commission.

The State has decided, since Benjamin said it, he has done nothing illegal.

The State even found an expert to bolster the idea that the ethics disclosure failure is Benjamin's only offense. And even that small slip-up is ambiguous.

John Crangle, a Columbia lawyer  and expert in on ethics and public corruption) said Benjamin “may have found himself in a gray area.” But Crangle said, the mayor "should have disclosed the trip."

The wordy article about the troubles of Benjamin never mentions a penalty, even

if he is guilty of poor paper shuffling skills.

See, it's a paperwork crime nothing else.

And as Benjamin assured us on July 3, in his “I'm a not a crook” press conference, it's all smoke and no fire.

Get the paperwork straightened out – the mayor's attorney will take another look- and see if there's a problem. Find it and fix it. All is well. 

Then the “watchdog” media can drop it, and we can all go back to our bliss.