The state ethics commission on Wednesday voted retroactively to approve a request to the state auditor to investigate the agency and conduct a performance review.
The commission already voted in September to ask Attorney General Sam Olens to appoint a special investigator to probe ongoing issues at the commission that include claims of improper conduct and preferential treatment toward Gov. Nathan Deal.
That request to Olens was never officially made, however, and in October commission Chairman Kevin Abernethy asked the state auditor for an agency inquest. The decision to move from Olens' office to the state auditor had not faced a commission vote until now.
Abernethy responded to critics who wanted the outside investigation into the agency charged with holding public officials accountable. He quoted state law that gives the auditor broad power to subpoena witnesses and compel testimony, and he said Olens' team would be able to prosecute if any criminal activity is found.
“If there is information (found by the auditor) that is indicating a hint or a whiff of criminal misconduct, this board and I will ensure that appropriate prosecutorial action is taken,” Abernethy said.
His fellow commissioners agreed. Newly appointed Commissioner Lawton Jordan, appointed by the governor as the panel’s lone Democrat, and Commissioner Heath Garrett, a Republican, both said the auditor has the power to accomplish the board’s goal.
Abernethy repeated what he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in October, that the decision to move from Olens to the auditor was largely financial. The commission would have to pay for a special investigator but not for the auditor’s inquiry.
The decision to seek a special investigator came after the AJC reported that current and former commission employees gave sworn testimony that executive director Holly LaBerge ordered documents removed from the commission’s investigation into Deal’s 2010 campaign for governor. They also claim LaBerge bragged that Deal “owed” her for scuttling the case against him.
Deal, who was accused of misusing campaign cash and accepting contributions over the legal limit, was cleared of major charges in 2012 and ordered to pay $3,350 in administrative fees for “technical defects.” The commission’s staff attorney had recommended a fine of $70,000.
The governor has said he received no special treatment in the handling of the case, and LaBerge has testified that she did not interfere in it.
William Perry, executive director of watchdog group Common Cause Georgia, has been a vocal critic of the commission’s handling of the Deal investigation and its subsequent internal problems. This time, however, he will take a wait-and-see approach on the auditor’s investigation.
“We researched it as well and we’re comfortable with the option of the auditor, but it’s one that we’re going to monitor closely,” Perry said. “And if it’s not an investigation that instills public trust, then we’re likely to call for something bigger.”
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