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Georgia Ethics Commission Calls For Special Attorney General

October 1st, 2013

Georgia’s ethics commission voted Monday to request a special attorney general for an investigation. It comes amid two separate lawsuits related to governor Deal’s 2010 campaign. The commission did not provide details about the cases or the personnel matters it wants the special attorney general to investigate.

But calls for the investigation come as the commission is being sued in two separate lawsuits by its former executive secretary and her former assistant. Both claim they were retaliated against for investigating ethics complaints filed against Governor Nathan Deal stemming from his 2010 campaign. And recently, former and current commission staff members told the Atlanta Journal Constitution the current head of the ethics commission ordered documents in the ethics investigation involving Governor Deal removed from state files and also allegedly met with top Deal aides during the probe.

William Perry was at the meeting. He’s the head of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog organization.

“It’s great there’s a special attorney general being called, and you assume that’s to have an independent watchdog investigation, but into what you don’t know…It leaves a lot of questions to be answered.”

If a special attorney general is appointed, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Steven Henson wants that person to examine a number of the accusations.

“Whether or not there was any improprieties by the executive director, any retaliatory actions against other employees and I would also like the investigation, more substantively in the body, where they were investigating the governor to be looked.”

Last month, Henson also called for a special investigation.

WABE contacted the head of the commission, commission members and Governor Deal’s office but did not hear back by deadline. The Georgia attorney general’s office says it has not received the commission’s request and is not commenting on the matter.

In July, the commission cleared Governor Deal of any major wrongdoing. Instead, Governor Deal had to pay $3,350 related to “technical defects” in campaign finance disclosure reports.