Tenn. Ex-Gov. Associate Gets Max for Taxes

[Judi Lynn]

Tenn. Ex-Gov. Associate Gets Max for Taxes

By BETH RUCKER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 23, 2005; 12:10 AM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A longtime friend of former Gov. Don Sundquist was sentenced Monday to 24 months in prison for tax evasion and lying to win a state contract.

John Stamps, 64, also will serve two years of supervised release and be required to repay more than $21,000 in back taxes and a $500 fine. He has already paid $105,000 in back taxes.
(snip)

The prosecutors' had requested a tougher sentence, possibly indicating that Stamps is not cooperating in a long-running probe into how state contracts were handed out during the Sundquist administration.
(snip)

Stamps also was accused of underreporting his income from 1998 to 2001.

His relationship with Sundquist dates back decades in GOP politics. In 1975, they were among co-founders of a bank in suburban Memphis.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082300009.html
(Free registration required)



Friends of the governor: John Stamps and Al Ganier, with
one of Sundquist's finance commissioners, John Ferguson.



Sundquist.