Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle made a campaign habit of talking about his hardscrabble youth and absentee father. So, when a single mom from Gwinnett County approached him last year about a charity she had created to help children of broken homes, he jumped at the chance to get involved.

With Cagle's backing, the once-struggling charity flourished and raised more than $120,000 from his friends and business associates. But too little of that money actually went to children, Cagle says now, and a grown-up dispute over control of the organization has left in the lurch kids who were promised scholarships.

Ben Gray/AJC (ENLARGE)

Spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said Cagle would support giving frozen scholarship funds directly to children.

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The $30,000 in remaining assets of the organization have been frozen since November. Cagle and the charity's founder, Katherine Conn, are locked in a he-said, she-said battle over who owns the name of the charity, Presence With A Purpose, amid allegations of mismanagement.

Cagle's staff members said overhead for the organization was nearly 90 percent — a figure Conn disputes.

Conn insists that she ran the organization properly. She says Cagle is trying to strong-arm her out of a dream she spent years and her life savings building.

"I'm sorry now he ever got involved," Conn said this week.

Cagle, meanwhile, in response to questions, issued a statement saying that his legal team is reviewing documentation to "determine whether there is sufficient cause to refer this matter to the IRS for additional investigation." He has filed a trademark application for the charity's name.

It is an ugly end to a relationship that both sides agree began with good intentions.

Conn said she first came up with the idea for the charity in 2003, after struggling to pay for expensive hockey lessons and equipment for her son, Hunter. She founded Operation Hope Then Faith and received tax-exempt status for the nonprofit organization in May of 2006. She said she first met with Cagle's staffers in February 2007, after hearing him speak about being the child of a single parent.

As Cagle traveled around the state the year before, campaigning for office, he often told the story of a beloved pastor who wrote him a check so he could go to a Christian football camp he desperately wanted to attend. Conn's charity, which offered scholarships for extracurricular activities for kids from single-parent homes, seemed like a perfect fit. Elizabeth Dewberry, Cagle's campaign manager, signed on, and Conn agreed to change the name of the charity to "Presence With A Purpose." Conn was paid $45,000 a year to serve as executive director.

Cagle became personally involved, taking kids to the aquarium and Thrashers hockey games. In August, a grinning Cagle, dressed in a blue striped shirt, welcomed children to a "Back to School Bash" planned by Conn, which gave free haircuts, backpacks and school supplies to needy kids. Donations poured in: $50,000 from America's Home Place, a company based in Cagle's hometown of Gainesville, and $5,000 from Comcast. Conn and Dewberry exchanged friendly e-mails about the charity's future.

But Conn soon began to fear she was losing control. Cagle wanted a formal board of directors and new bylaws. Before, her board consisted of family members and others, she said. Dewberry also insisted that the charity's donations be held by the Northeast Georgia Community Foundation, an outside agency that oversees about 20 charities in the state.

"We did this in order to ensure funds were being efficiently spent for charitable purposes," Cagle said in a statement.

Bryan Pierce, a longtime Cagle friend who was to serve as treasurer of the organization, said Conn had asked for $20,000 as reimbursement for her expenses in November, the same week a new board was to be put in place.

"I told her she would need to get board approval for something like that," he said. Conn disputes Pierce.

"I never asked him for anything," said Conn, who provided the organization's financial records to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Every penny is accounted for. We had an accountant look over the books."

Cagle's staff does not dispute the transactions, which show charges for such items as catering and copy supplies, but question whether the money was spent wisely.

During a mid-November meeting, things went sour. Conn left without signing the new bylaws. The Northeast Georgia Community Foundation then froze the charity's funds. Conn said she later cashed a $25,000 donation check from AT&T. She used the money for, among other things, a planned Christmas party for children; to pay her salary; and to reimburse her mother and sister $2,000 each for loans they made to the charity, according to documents Conn provided.

AT&T spokesman Billy Linville said the company tried to stop payment on the check after learning about the organization's fight over governance. "It was disappointing," Linville said.

Conn said 10 children who were promised scholarships of as much as $1,000 are not receiving money now. She recently sent a letter to the Northeast Georgia Community Foundation asking that the money be released.

"We need support for this organization so we can get scholarships paid," she said.

Conn received an e-mail last month from the mother of a child promised a gymnastics scholarship. The mother said her daughter would not be able to compete with her team without funding. The mother paid the gymnastics bill with money set aside for rent, Conn said.

"I am begging you for your fulfillment of this scholarship money so she can continue this sport and so that we are not asked to leave our home," the mother wrote. Cagle also wants the children to get the money.

"The lieutenant governor would fully support spending any remaining funds raised for the charity on direct grants to economically challenged children, including any children who have pending support applications," spokeswoman Jaillene Hunter said in a statement. "He would oppose any further overhead expenditures."