No ruling yet on official’s payments to brother’s firm

Atlanta City Councilman and mayoral candidate Ceasar Mitchell had hoped the city’s Ethics Board could tell him Thursday night whether payments from his taxpayer-funded expense account to his brother’s company complied with the ethics code.

However, the board took no action because it wanted time to look into the specifics.

Mitchell said in an interview this week that he is seeking a quick resolution.

“I just think the questions that I have asked are questions that could be answered pretty straightforwardly,” Mitchell said. “That’s part of why I went to the Ethics Board … Give me some guidance on this issue and tell me flat out.”

Mitchell authorized $49,223 in payments from his taxpayer-funded expense account to a company owned and operated by his brother and former campaign manager. The payments were made to David Mitchell’s company, Pendulum Consulting, in 2006 and 2007 for a variety of goods and services.

Mitchell made some of the payments to his brother’s company before the city’s ethics code was amended in the summer of 2006 to prohibit council members from participating in city contracts in which they or their immediate family members, including siblings, have a “financial or personal interest.” Most of the payments were made to Pendulum Consulting after the law was changed.

After The Atlanta Journal-Constitution started inquiring about the payments to Pendulum Consulting, Mitchell wrote the city Ethics Board last Friday, asking whether he had complied with the law.