Gov. Nathan Deal showed his testier side at an Atlanta Press Club event as he faced criticism about his wait-and-see approach to ethics reform and pronounced himself "disappointed" with two prominent critics.
The first involved Dink NeSmith, the newspaper publisher and former Regents chair who penned a column this week that accused the governor of meddling with the higher education system's work.
"The Board of Regents, by Georgia’s constitution, is protected from political meddling," wrote NeSmith. "Our governor has not honored and will not honor that separation of power.”
The governor said he was "very disappointed" in NeSmith and that he has no "rational explanation" for the column he wrote. He contended that NeSmith and other Regents asked him to weigh in on the selections of both Chancellor Hank Huckaby and University of Georgia President Jere Morehead.
"Dink NeSmith was the chairman of the Board of Regents. If he did not want my opinion, he shouldn't have asked for it," he said. "If Mr. NeSmith is disappointed in the selection of Hank Huckaby or Jere Morehead, he should be man enough to say that that's his problem."
(NeSmith said he supports both men, and that his issue is rather Deal's attempt to interfere with the Regents work).
The second exchange erupted after Deal took a question from William Perry, the head of Georgia's Common Cause chapter. Perry thanked the governor for increasing funding to the ethics commission but said he hadn't done enough.
"It's like I'm thanking the guy for bringing a water bucket to a house fire," said Perry. "There's so much more that needs to be done, and you control the water flow."
He then started to mention a Center for Public Integrity report that gave Georgia an "F" in corruption risk when Deal cut him off and questioned the report's author.
Here's a partial transcript:
Deal: "That was by a very partisan individual, I might add. You should be objective enough to question his credentials. I know who did the survey and you do, too."
Perry: "Fortunately they're doing a followup."
Deal: "Good. Maybe they'll get someone who is more qualified."
Perry then noted that the report recommended some broad changes, but also some smaller tweaks.
Perry: "Very little has been done and you're the guy who can do it," he said. "Why not take these efforts that cost very little money so we can have a higher ranking on any report that's done by anybody?"
Deal: "You've got me confused. On the one hand, you and your organization complain that the governor and his office interferes with legislative action and administrative action.
"The ethics commission is supposed to be independent. So when you say I control the flow of water, I don't really know. But you know when you have a house fire and someone brings a bucket of water, it's a welcome sign. Hopefully we can do even more.
"I don't think we should spend money unless we know we can get the results we need for spending the money. We just now have seen who the new director is. Give the man time to unpack his boxes, and get in his office, and figure out who his staff is, and find out where his bathroom is, to find out the things he may recommend to the General Assembly and the governor's office. I think we owe him the courtesy."
Perry followed up with the start of a question: "A Fulton County jury found your staff interfered with investigations being conducted by that commission ..."
Deal: "No, they did not. That's absolutely false. You know that's false. You know there was not a single bit of testimony along that line. I was never called as a witness. None of my staff was called as a witness. I'm not going to get into all of those things in the past …
"That was a dysfunctional ethics commission. When you have years passing by when they failed to do anything other than concentrating on investigating me, and the conclusion is there was nothing done wrong, it was a time for somebody to act."
Then the governor got in one final parting shot.
Deal: "In fairness to the organization that you represent, you ought not to continue to spread false information. I'm disappointed."
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