Shepard Says He Asked Hunter to Leave His Consulting Firm

Tom Shepard, the political consultant whose firm managed the election campaign of former Mayor Roger Hedgecock, testified Tuesday in the fraud trial of Nancy Hoover Hunter that he had to ask Hunter to leave his company when the J. David & Co. investment house collapsed in February, 1984.

“We told her she was making it impossible for us to do business,” Shepard said.

Although Hunter was considered “a significant detriment to our continuance as a business entity,” she was the primary source of funding for Tom Shepard & Associates, he said.

Hunter was a limited partner in the firm, but she contributed more than $340,000 in two years to the company, which was losing money after being formed in 1982, Shepard said. After being asked to leave, her partnership was bought out for $30,000, he said.

Shepard said he hired several people to work on the Hedgecock campaign in late 1982, and, in the words of Assistant U. S. Atty. Stephen Clarke, these people “could not have been hired except for the money supplied by Nancy Hoover (Hunter).”

Both Shepard and Hunter were convicted for their roles in the illegal funding of the Hedgecock campaign, and before his testimony, Shepard was warned by U. S. District Judge Earl Gilliam not to mention Hunter’s conviction.

Gilliam also admonished Shepard to maintain his composure during his testimony. Last week, there was a heated exchange between Shepard and Clarke regarding the statement Shepard signed as part of his plea bargain in the Hedgecock campaign contribution case.