An angry Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday accused this newspaper of an unwarranted revival of issues largely dismissed by the state ethics commission – based on sworn statements from current and former employees of the commission, who said their boss improperly intervened in complaints lodged against the governor.

Said Deal:

“I am so regretful of the decline that I have seen in the reporting by the AJC. If they continue that downward spiral as it relates to every issue of major importance they pretty well are going to descend to the level where they can’t even claim to be a fish wrapper …

“I am so disappointed in the way they handled this. They disregard the system itself – the ethics commission process. They fail to realize that all of these allegations, which are totally unsubstantiated and primarily false, that staff are not the ones to make the decisions. Those decisions are made by private citizens, not staff.

“I think it’s altogether appropriate, however, that we have conversations about this. Yes my staff had conversations with the staff at the ethics commission because in 2012 we were trying to get reforms to the ethics laws in this state. … We were successful in doing that.”

Here’s a quick taste of what got under the governor’s skin:

The head of Georgia’s ethics commission is accused of improperly intervening into an investigation of Gov. Nathan Deal, raising serious questions about the independence of the state panel charged with keeping watch over Georgia’s elected officials.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s exclusive report reveals allegations by current and former commission employees who said Holly LaBerge ordered documents removed from the official state investigative file on Deal and met with top Deal aides while the probe was ongoing.

LaBerge declined comment but Deal’s attorney, Randy Evans, said the five-member ethics commission and not LaBerge had the final say over the ethics complaints against Deal. He didn’t dispute claims that Deal’s staff had recruited her and added that her meetings with Deal’s camp involved trying to hash out a settlement on the ethics charges.

The major charges against Deal were dismissed and he was slapped with a small penalty for technical defects on his campaign filings.

The current and former employees said LaBerge bragged of her relationship with Deal and boasted that she made the governor’s legal troubles disappear.

It’ll cost you 99 cents to read more, but it’ll be worth it.

We’ll let Deal continue:

“You’re talking about the AJC not only disrespecting the ethics commission, they are disrespecting the courts of the state. They have given credibility to the claims of a disgruntled former state employee who has sued the state of Georgia … Apparently she and her lawyers felt she’d rather try the case in the pages of the AJC than in the courtroom and that’s truly a disrespect on the part of the paper to be able to give them that opportunity. I don’t know why they chose to do that. We have seen over the course of the years that some people feel they can use the ethics complaint process as a political tool. …

“What is happening is when the media give those times of complaints credibility, the people who file them know the commission will not get around to addressing the merits of the complaints until well after the election is over with.”

Deal’s Republican challengers – the governor faces re-election next year -- have yet to weigh in on the matter.

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Now, as for the governor's  “fish-wrapper” crack. That’s a phrase sure to warm any newspaper reporter’s heart in Atlanta. Perhaps the most popular portrait in the state Capitol is that of Lester Maddox, Georgia’s last segregationist governor, who warred with the local newspapers throughout his single term until shortly before he died in 2003.

Maddox left a valentine for journalists in the lower right quadrant of his official portrait. You’ll find it above.

***

Early this morning, Democrats in the state Senate called for federal and state criminal investigations – and renewed their demand for an independent state ethics commission. From the press release:

"Senate Democrats introduced legislation to create an independent ethics commission, but now we are asking for a GBI, FBI investigation," said Steve Henson, Democratic Leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus….

"Governor Deal has demonstrated a pattern of misconduct," said Sen. Vincent Fort, the Senate Democratic whip. "From his congressional days, now through his term as governor, Deal has demonstrated that he has a disregard for the rules. Deal vacated his congressional office under investigation and a cloud of misconduct.”

Deal’s Republican challengers have yet to weigh in on the matter.

But a renewed ethics imbroglio became an immediate topic for former state senator and DeKalb County Commissioner Connie Stokes, who this week filed the necessary paperwork and formally became a Democratic candidate for governor. She plans a statewide tour in the next few weeks. From the press release:

"The people of Georgia want a government that is accountable. Georgians want and need a leader who will answer to them, not act in his own personal interest," said Stokes.

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In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal showed a sliver of interest in the Medicaid expansion deals cut with the federal government by other states. From Jim Burress and WABE (90.1 FM):

Deal seems open to consider alternatives now under consideration in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Arkansas -- all three states that also denied Medicaid expansion. 

Those states want to use federal Medicaid money to buy private insurance for those who would otherwise gain coverage under expansion.

Said Deal:

 “I’ve always thought it is preferable for people to buy into the private insurance marketplace, rather than being a part of a true government program.”

***

We told you Wednesday about remarks made by U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, in a private meeting of GOP lawmakers and staff in the basement of the U.S. Capitol. The topic was Gingrey's proposal to keep the federal government from subsidizing members of Congress and staff on the Obamacare exchanges -- which has rankled some of his colleagues.

From Jonathan Strong and the National Review:

The Georgia Republican, whose latest personal financial-disclosure forms show his net worth is at least $3 million, had little sympathy for lawmakers and even less for staff.

Capitol Hill aides, he said “may be 33 years old now and not making a lot of money. But in a few years they can just go to K Street,” the Washington, D.C., vernacular for becoming a lobbyist, “and make 500,000 a year. Meanwhile I’m stuck here making $172,000 a year.”

Actually, Gingrey makes $174,000 a year – the same salary he would make if he wins his bid for the U.S. Senate. In a statement issued precisely at midnight, the Cobb County congressman refused to back down. From the press release:

"I firmly believe that Congress should not receive special treatment. Especially when it comes to the consequences of bad legislation Congress passed, that I voted against and am doing everything within my power to reverse. No member of Congress, nor their staff deserve to be given preferential treatment over the voters they claim to serve.”

Gingrey’s defenders this morning include Erick Erickson of Redstate.com:

“The staffers cast Gingrey in the worst possible light, but his point was sound. Yes staffers make little money on Capitol Hill, but a good many will go on to bigger and better things with the experience. It is not right for them to get an exemption that middle class workers back in their home states won’t get.”

But one of his Senate rivals, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens, accused Gingrey of whining:

“While most Americans are struggling to make ends meet and battling higher healthcare costs, it's disappointing that Congressman Gingrey, whose reported net worth exceeds $3 million, complains about being 'stuck here (in Congress) making $172,000 a year.'

…Georgians needs a senator who understands what it’s like to balance a budget, not one who is more concerned with their salary than the needs and economic challenges faced by most Georgians….”

***

Speaking of Paul Broun: He’s front-and-center this morning in a Politico.com review of the U.S. Senate race in Georgia, and whether it can escape the specter of Todd Akin.

Broun didn’t walk away from his statement last year that embryology, evolution and the Big Bang Theory (the origin of the universe, not the TV show). But the Athens congressman did try to push it to the side:

“I’m a Bible-believing Christian,” he [said]. “I understand other people have different beliefs than I do. And I respect those beliefs. We’re not voting on religious beliefs. We are voting on the future of America, and we must all agree that this out-of-control government is destroying the future for our children and our grandchildren.”

***

Karen Handel, also a member of the GOP field in the U.S. Senate race, takes another whack at Michelle Nunn today, with a second radio ad criticizing the Democrat for her support of President Barack Obama’s proposed military strike on Syria. Listen to the audio here.

Says Handel, in the script:

“Nunn says she would have voted for Barack Obama’s plan to attack Syria.

“I, along with most Georgians and Americans, opposed the administration from the start.

“Nunn supports Obamacare—despite higher premiums, less choice, and new burdens on small businesses.

“We can’t ‘fix’ Obamacare. We need to defund it, repeal it and start over. With a common-sense, patient centered approach.”

An Insider post this morning examines the novelty of widespread Republican opposition to military action in Syria. We also note that Nunn doesn’t disavow her support for punishing Syria for the gassing of its own civilians. Here’s a broader statement that her campaign sent over Wednesday:

“As I have stated, I believe that America needed to take a strong stand, including authorizing limited military action, to deter President Assad  and others from the future use of chemical weapons, to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction - including the imperative of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state, and to preserve our credibility and strength in the region.

“I share with members of both parties the  hope that  international diplomatic action can safeguard and destroy Syria's chemical weapons. This effort will be challenging but its accomplishment would be an important reinforcement of the global chemical weapons ban, a significant result for the region, and a meaningful contribution to our national security.”

***

On Wednesday, Washington was having fun with news that a former presidential campaign staffer for Newt Gingrich had launched a push to persuade his old boss to run for the U.S. Senate in Virginia against Democratic incumbent Mark Warner.

But Stefan Passantino of McKenna Long & Aldridge in Atlanta – the firm handles Gingrich’s legal interests – quickly shot down the talk with this Shermanesque message sent via Twitter:

Newt is not behind any "Draft Newt" movements and will not be a candidate for Senate.

Remember that Gingrich just started a new gig as the conservative anchor of CNN’s “Crossfire.”

***

On a more somber note, the Cherokee Tribune reports that friends of state Rep. Calvin Hill, R-Canton, have begun an online campaign to find a bone marrow donor in the state lawmaker’s fight against leukemia:

Political players around north Georgia have in recent days taken to social media to spread the word of Hill’s search for a donor by asking their followers to consider helping the representative by going to bethematch.org, a website which keeps a registry of potential bone marrow donors and sends out mouth-swab test kits for willing donors to use to see if they might be a match.

Hill said Monday that his doctors tell him his best shot at a cure to the disease, which he was diagnosed with this summer, is to receive a bone marrow transplant.

***

Qualifying ended Wednesday for special elections to fill one state Senate and three House seats. Rather than cut-and-paste the names, we offer the links from Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s website:

-- Click here for candidates in the Senate District 14 contest to replace Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, who is running for Congress;

-- And here for the House District 100 race to replace Brian Thomas of Gwinnett County, who resigned to take a job in Maine. Ex-Atlanta Falcons linebacker Dewey McClain, a Democrat, was the only candidate to sign up.

-- And here for the names of  four Republicans who signed up to replace state Rep. Donna Sheldon, R-Dacula, who is also making a congressional run;

-- And here for the three Democrats who signed up to run for the seat held by the late state Rep. Quincy Murphy, D-Augusta.