Councilman faces subpoena over charity records

The Atlanta Board of Ethics issued a subpoena Thursday to force Councilman H. Lamar Willis to hand over records about his charitable foundation, saying he has not responded to its attempts to gather documents for its inquiry.

The board gave the councilman 30 days to respond after Ethics Officer Ginny Looney said he missed a Dec. 15 deadline to supply documents and hasn’t replied to subsequent e-mails.

Willis said in a telephone interview he had not personally received any notice to gather records. The councilman said he would have his attorneys contact Looney.

“I trust that my counsel will continue to be cooperative with any other agency, as we have been in this matter,” he said.

In July 2007, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found Willis’ charity was raising money even though it was not registered with the IRS or the state to do so.

Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed a civil lawsuit against Willis in September, accusing him of spending scholarship donations on himself and putting other contributions into his personal and campaign bank accounts.

The suit calls on Willis to pay the state all the money he raised through the H. Lamar Willis Foundation, which could be more than $150,000. The suit accuses Willis of violating state law by using a charitable organization to defraud the public.

The councilman’s attorneys have said there are some accounting issues that need to be worked through and they hope to have the matter resolved.

Looney said her staff needs the records to determine if Willis violated any city codes.

In another matter Thursday, the board dismissed a complaint against Police Chief Richard Pennington after Looney found the chief did not order motorcycle officers to escort him and others riding their Corvettes in a motorcade through the city last summer.

The escort was approved by Maj. Calvin Moss because he was concerned that the motorcade was near a planned demonstration.

The board did agree the police department should reconsider its policy permitting officers to escort groups for private events.