Grady Memorial Hospital's old board chose interim CEO Pam Stephenson in January to usher the public hospital through its darkest financial hours.

But money troubles have plagued Stephenson's personal and campaign affairs for years, public records show.

Marcus Yam/myam@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Pam Stephenson at a press conference held Thursday at New Piney Grove Baptist Church in Decatur.

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Creditors have taken Stephenson to court repeatedly over debts in recent years, court records show.

As recently as last month, a collection agency filed court papers to garnishee wages at her law firm, the Stephenson Law Group, to settle a $9,600 debt.

Since 2003, Stephenson has also racked up 30 fines for failing to file campaign finance reports on time in connection with her other job as a state legislator. So far, the DeKalb Democrat, who is a candidate in Tuesday's primary, has paid half the $2,250 in fines the State Ethics Commission says she owes, records show.

Stephenson said Thursday that she has settled, disputed or plans to dispute all the debts listed in court records. In some cases, she said she gave relatives credit cards in her name and was unaware of outstanding balances — which she eventually paid.

She also said she has filed all the required ethics reports, and she has an attorney who is talking with the Ethics Commission about the fines.

"I always pay my debts," she said.

Critics blasted Stephenson this week after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported she had secured a two-year, $600,000-a-year contract to lead the ailing Atlanta hospital even as a new board geared up to take over its management. The new board made it clear it planned to hire its own CEO.

Stephenson's contract, obtained by the AJC, said that if the new board replaced her in the first year, she would still collect two years' base salary — at least $1.2 million in total. The contract is undated, and it is unclear when it was signed. Some members of the old board said they were unaware the contract existed.

Board member Dick Teters said there may be an understandable explanation for Stephenson's financial issues, which he said he did not know about.

But, he added, "I personally believe in order to be an appropriate steward of anybody's money, of public money or private money, that you have to be above reproach in all of your actions, financial and otherwise."

Stephenson said past overdue bills do not reflect on her ability to steer Grady.

"It does not affect my intellect or ability to lead," she said.

Creditors haven't always had an easy time catching up with Stephenson.

In June, a process server seeking to deliver Asset Acceptance LLC's notice of garnishment gave up after three unsuccessful attempts at her Lithonia home, court records show.

The server's handwritten notes say that on June 16 and 17 no one answered the door even though multiple cars were in her driveway. On the 23rd, her husband told the server that she wasn't home, and he couldn't say when she would return.

In December 2006, another server visited the same address with papers concerning a J.C. Penney's credit card complaint. It misspelled her last name as "Stepheson." The server wrote that no one with that name lived there, records show.

Stephenson said Thursday that she would dispute the Asset Acceptance complaint, and that she did not believe she owed anything from a J.C. Penney's card.

In 2007, an Atlanta landlord filed a complaint against her in DeKalb County State Court for failing to pay rent for a house on Rainbow Drive in Decatur. Stephenson said she had signed a lease for her brother and didn't know he'd fallen behind in rent. She said she paid up.

State tax officials have also filed two liens against her, saying she owed $38,400 and $22,500 in back income taxes. Stephenson said the bills were a misunderstanding, and that the state Department of Revenue actually issued her a refund.

In a dispute with another creditor, she said she prevailed; in yet another, she said she paid even though it was a business partner who owed the money.

In November, the State Ethics Commission opened investigations into Stephenson and five other state legislators and former candidates. In her case, the commission is probing her failure to file personal financial disclosure statements — which detail state lawmakers' business interests — in 2005 and 2006, as well as at least six campaign contribution disclosure forms between 2004 and 2007.

A preliminary hearing is set for October.

— Computer-assisted reporting specialist Megan Clarke and staff writer Craig Schneider contributed to this report.