The state Ethics Commission has opened an investigation into why a lobbyist for the payday loan industry last year gave then Rep. Ron Sailor, a payday loan supporter, $80,000 for a land deal less than a month before a key vote on a controversial payday lending bill.

"We're looking into the matter," said Rick Thompson, the commission's executive secretary.

John Spink/AJC (ENLARGE)

State Rep. Ron Sailor (left) and his lawyer, Bruce Maloy, leave the Russell Building on March 18 following Sailor's appearance before Judge Jack Camp.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on its Web site Monday night that the lobbyist, Willie Green, gave Sailor the money on Feb. 23, 2007, 25 days before the Georgia House voted on the legislation.

DeKalb property records show Sailor put up as collateral a farm then owned by DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones, though no record exists that Jones ever authorized Sailor to do so.

Green contends that deal was a simple business loan and he expected to be paid back $120,000 within five days. He said he was never paid back. The transaction is recorded in DeKalb Superior Court for $120,000.

Green and Sailor did not disclose the transaction to the state Ethics Commission at the time. Green filed an amended disclosure Monday afternoon after he was contacted by the AJC.

Sailor resigned his seat last week after pleading guilty to federal money-laundering charges. Federal prosecutors said Sailor, a pastor with a divinity degree from Howard University, is cooperating with a wider public corruption investigation. They have not elaborated on the focus of that inquiry.

Thompson said the commission is investigating whether Green or Sailor violated Georgia lobbying law. Under current law, lobbyists can be fined $2,000 per violation if they file false or late reports detailing their financial ties with elected officials.

"The commission believes it is important that when a substantial [expenditure] goes unreported that the new information received is accurate and there is no other disclosure to be made," Thompson said.

Green's amended disclosure was filed at 4:25 p.m., while his attorney Morris Wiltshire Jr. was interviewed by a reporter.

The amended disclosure states the loan was "made to Ron Sailor for downpayment of land located at 3350 Flat Shoals Rd. Conyers, GA. Loan was to be paid after Ron closed on the loan from bank."

DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones said he didn't know about Sailor's use of his land for the transaction until last Friday, when a reporter told him about it. Jones called for a state and federal investigation into the matter. Jones no longer owns the property.

Wiltshire said the transaction was supposed to be a simple business deal. He said it was coincidental that it occurred shortly before a critical vote for an industry for which Green lobbies. If the bill had passed, payday lending — short-term, high-interest loans for people with poor credit — would have become legal in Georgia. Sailor and 10 other House Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the bill. The House vote was a 84-84 tie. It needed 91 votes to pass.

"The investment was certainly not intending to influence legislation," Wiltshire said. "If he was trying to hide something, why would he have recorded it?" Green filed a notarized copy of the debt in DeKalb Superior Court.

An ethics advocate questioned Wiltshire's assertion.

"It would stretch the imagination greatly to think that this $80,000 amount is unrelated to the payday loan a few weeks later," said Bill Bozarth, executive director of Georgia Common Cause.

Wiltshire conceded that Green's deal with Sailor was a mistake.

"Looking at it now, that was probably not his brightest move ever," he said.

Staff writer Alan Judd contributed to this article.