'I let all those lines cross': Scott Maddox on his descent from public service to bribery

Scott Maddox (D) and Paige Carter-Smith told the judge in their federal public corruption case that they never intended to slip into murky ethical waters and eventual outright bribery.

The former Tallahassee mayor and city commissioner and his lobbying partner and girlfriend were sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle on three corruption counts involving money they took from city vendors in exchange for his official action to benefit them.

Maddox, who got five years in federal prison, and Carter-Smith, who got two years, said they went into public service to help people and the town they love. But as the years wore on, they began to blur ethical and legal lines.

“It got more and more politics,” Maddox said. “I gave as good as I got as I got higher and higher. You had to to survive and win.”

Read more: https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/fbi/2021/09/10/scott-maddox-tallahassee-corruption-city-hall-fbi-guilty-sentenced-paige-carter-smith/8271035002/

In addition to serving on the Tallahassee city council and as mayor, Maddox is the former chair of the Florida Democratic Party.