Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr.’s legislative attacks on the county board of ethics got nowhere this week, but their long-running feud is likely far from over.
Arrington sought an “external review” of the Fulton County Board of Ethics, to revoke all the board’s actions since the start of 2014, and to disband the board altogether, replacing it with a slate of ethics hearing officers.
His first and third proposals failed to garner votes from commissioners other than himself and Natalie Hall. Faced with the first failure, Arrington put his resolution to revoke the board’s actions on hold.
In debating the resolutions, Arrington gave a long diatribe against the ethics board, as he often has when the body is mentioned.
“They are illegal, they are unethical, and they all need to resign immediately,” he said.
Arrington claimed the ethics board has violated every level of law from its own rules to the U.S. Constitution.
“They make up rules as they go,” Arrington said. He accused the board of now trying to conceal its procedural errors.
County Attorney Y. Soo Jo, answering a question from Hall, said she has observed instances in which the board had not followed its own rules.
Responding to a request for comment, the board released a brief statement Thursday.
“The Fulton County Board of Ethics is a volunteer board of citizens obligated to investigate matters brought before it involving employees of Fulton County,” it says. “The board is currently looking into a matter; the details of which it will not be discussing publicly. At times, the duties of the Board open it up to criticism and threats — this is a problem not foreign to ethics boards nationwide.”
The dispute dates to November 2020, when state Rep. Mesha Mainor, R-56, then a candidate, filed an ethics complaint against Arrington. He was an attorney for Corwin Monson, a former campaign volunteer for Mainor who was convicted of stalking her.
Mainor alleged Arrington had a conflict of interest by representing defendants against the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, which he oversees as a commissioner. She also alleged he abused his power as commissioner in dealings with the DA’s office.
Arrington dismissed those claims as frivolous. He subsequently withdrew as Monson’s attorney.
In January 2021, recorded calls between Monson, his wife, and sometimes Arrington were leaked to local media.
The board held a hearing on Mainor’s ethics complaint in March 2021, and a majority concluded there was not probable cause that Arrington violated the county’s ethics code, according to Arrington’s court filings. That should have led to the complaint’s immediate dismissal, he said.
But the board met again in June 2021 — Arrington said he wasn’t notified — and essentially revived the complaint because of more “potentially relevant evidence.” That referred to the recorded phone calls.
In April 2022 the board filed a sealed complaint in Superior Court against Arrington and Monson, seeking to review the calls. The board dismissed its own suit in January before the court ruled, but Arrington argues the board is not legally capable of filing suit in the first place.
In February, Arrington filed his own ethics complaint against board members, alleging they violated the ethics code themselves.
On Nov. 1, the board sent Arrington’s lawyer a letter saying it would review the recordings and inviting him “to seek any legal remedy you deem appropriate within the next 90 days.”
Arrington’s response was to file a Dec. 19 complaint in Superior Court, saying the calls are protected by attorney-client privilege or spousal privilege. He seeks an order for the ethics board to drop its action, and pay his fees and costs of at least $150,000.
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