The head of the Georgia chapter of Common Cause resigned his position and will start a new watchdog group.
William Perry said in a statement Tuesday that his resignation came at the request of the organization's national president, Michael Rapoport. Perry said he will make the most of the change by creating a new, yet-unnamed group to "fully focus on government watchdog work" such as exposing public corruption.
Perry, who has led the Georgia chapter for more than four years, was an outspoken advocate for sweeping new ethics rules in the Legislature and a loud critic of the use of taxpayer funds to build glitzy new stadiums in metro Atlanta. He brought a sharp-elbowed style to the job, often confronting political leaders at public events, and cultivated an image as a pesky thorn in the side of local political leaders.
On one memorable occasion, he told Gov. Nathan Deal that boasting about his budget increase for the state's beleaguered ethics commission was like thanking someone "for bringing a water bucket to a house fire." In another, he debated Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on TV over the handling of lucrative airport concessions contracts, which he said "creates an incredibly bad perception" about the city."
But the national organization's recent shift to focus more on policy issues, such as strengthening voting rights laws and combating climate change, has apparently brought sweeping changes to the local chapter as well. About one-third of the group's board was pushed out in May in what critics said was a purge of conservative-leaning members. A month later, the group tapped Clint Murphy, a prominent ex-Republican who bolted the GOP in 2010, to chair its board.
Perry cited this shift in an interview Tuesday with Tim Bryant at WGAU over in Athens. Said Perry:
"I've learned it's really hard to be a government watchdog as well as a public policy advocate. And Common Cause, both nationally and in Georgia, is taking on new issues, they're playing more of a role in expanding the public policy work they do. And I just think I'm not the right fit for that. I need to be somebody who wants to kick down doors and expose government corruption. You can't call out politicians and ask for their vote about a particular policy decision at the same time."
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