Charles Walker (Georgia politician)

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For other persons named Charles Walker, see Charles Walker (disambiguation).

Photo of Charles Walker after he was reelected to his Senate Seat following his indictment on 142 counts

Charles W. Walker (born November 8, 1947) was once a powerful Georgia State Senator. He was first elected to the State Senate in 1990, and in 1996 he became the first African-American State Senate Majority leader in Georgia history. Walker is a Democrat and is from Augusta, Georgia.

Walker started a newspaper called The Augusta Focus, that served Augusta's black community, that often expressed opposite viewpoints of Augusta's only daily newspaper, The Augusta Chronicle. Walker was a shrewd businessman, owning a myriad of small enterprises under the name The Walker Group. Critics often accused Walker of using his influence as a state legislator to gain lucrative state contracts for his businesses.

[edit] Scandal

For much of his term as a State Senator, controversy surrounded Walker. In 1999, Walker sent a notorious letter to lobbyists, insinuating that a condition for getting preferential treatment in the legislature relied on doing business with his son's security company. In 2002, the Georgia State Ethics Commission levied a $8,500 fine against Walker, the largest fine in state history of a sitting state legislator, for failing to disclose that one of his companies, Georgia Personnel Services, was contracting with state run hospitals while he was in office.

While on The Reapportionment Committee, Walker had a US Congressional district drawn specifically for his son, Champ Walker. However, because of running an extremely lackluster campaign, the younger Walker lost the election to a white Republican, Max Burns, even though the district was considered a district safe for electing a Democrat. In 2002, the elder Walker lost his seat on the State Senate to a Republican.

Surprisingly, even after the indictments, the voters returned Walker back to the State Senate in November 2004. Walker kept his seat until he was convicted in Federal court in 2005, later being sentenced to over 10 years in prison. Governor Sonny Perdue called for a special election to fill Walker's seat. Augusta attorney Ed Tarver, an African-American Democrat, won that election.