The GOP Mayor of Chicopee, Massachusetts has been arrested and charged with extorting big campaign contributions from local businessmen in exchange for favorable treatment.

Richard Goyette, 36, a Republican running for a second term, dropped out of the race today, all but guaranteeing that liberal Democrat Michael Bissonette will win the election on November 8th. Goyette says he plans to serve out the rest of his term. City Councilors have called on him to resign. Chicopee is a city of about 50,000 people located just north of Springfield.

The Associated Press reported

“The alleged conduct of Mr. Goyette is an unconscionable breach of the public trust, and only serves to undermine citizens’ confidence,” U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said at a news conference. “Citizens rightfully expect public officials to uphold the best interests of all constituents without expecting cash contributions to do their job.”

An FBI affidavit unsealed Tuesday describes a pair of surveillance videos, both shot Sept. 2, that allegedly show Goyette accepting $5,000 cash contributions from two business owners who agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

One witness — identified by investigators as “Concerned Citizen 2″ — is the owner of a towing company who said he gave Goyette the money to keep his contract with the city. The man said he gave $2,500 to Goyette’s 2003 campaign in hopes of securing the contract, investigators said.

“It became clear that Goyette expected to receive substantial campaign contributions from towing companies that did business with the city of Chicopee,” FBI Special Agent Susan Kossler said in her sworn testimony.

On the video, according to affidavit, when the towing company owner takes the cash from his desk drawer, Goyette says, “What, no envelope?”

On the same day, Goyette went to the office of a Chicopee developer — dubbed “Concerned Citizen 4″ — and allegedly pocketed another $5,000 in exchange for a guarantee that problems with the man’s development project would be smoothed over. That exchange also was videotaped, the FBI said.

The Fray has much more — including a grainy still from the FBI surveillance video that the FBI says shows Goyette stuffing an envelope with the five large he had just extorted from a developer, into his pocket.

[Crossposted at Political Cortex].