By admin 
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba says the city is still running, weeks after another person was charged in a bribery scandal that has already brought down a city council member.
“I would say we are still working. I would say it doesn’t stop us from what we do every day. I would say, just like we have as a mantra hanging over our heads every day in my office, ‘Our job is our defense,’” he said. “We have a lifelong commitment to serving people, have never violated that and would never violate our love, trust and commitment to the people of Jackson.”
Lumumba’s spoke to reporters at a press conference on Monday. His comments come just over a week after a second person, Sherik Marve’ Smithwas indicted in a bribery scandal that court documents say involved at least three city officials who accepted bribes to support a hotel convention center project.
Before she spoke, Jackson communications director Melissa Faith Payne said the mayor would not answer questions about the bribery scandal.
“I’m telling you right now, ‘no comment,’ if you have any questions about a scandal or anything,” she said. ‘Feel free to waste your time asking us questions in fifty-eleven ways, but we have to go at two o’clock. And if you want to waste your time asking questions, I’m 100 percent telling you I’m not commenting on that.”
The scandal has been hanging over the city for months Jody Owens, Hinds County District Attorney businesses and offices were raided by FBI agents, and after FBI agents visited Jackson City Hall.
In August, former Ward 2 Councilor Angelique Lee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery after receiving nearly $20,000 in cash and gifts to support a development proposal from Tennessee-based company Facility Solutions Team, promising “more votes would come.”
Court records show it involves two other elected city officials, who asked for a $50,000 payment to support a hotel development, and one who received a $10,000 campaign contribution to direct a city staffer to set the response date to change for the benefit of the alleged developers.
Under state law, only a city council member can vote in favor of a contract or proposal. The mayor is the only elected official who can direct city employees.
The city issued a request for qualifications in January for companies interested in developing the property across from the Jackson Convention Complex. Three companies, including Facility Solutions Team, responded. Owens and Smith were listed as local partners in FST’s response.
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