For the second time in recent years, Atlanta City Councilwoman Cleta Winslow has admitted using city funds for campaign purposes in violation of the law, and she will face the Atlanta ethics board Thursday for sanctions.
Atlanta Ethics Officer Nina Hickson said Winslow acknowledged she was reimbursed by the city for paying a bus company $390 to shuttle seniors to a campaign event in August.
Her infraction marks the second time the veteran councilwoman has misappropriated taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes. She was fined $1,500 in 2010 for spending more than $5,000 in taxpayers’ money on a re-election campaign.
At that time, she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution a “staff person sent something in for reimbursement that they shouldn’t.”
According to Hickson, Winslow also blamed the recent issue on a staffer’s error.
“Because this is the second time the behavior occurred, I felt the board needed to weigh in,” Hickson said.
Winslow declined comment Monday and referred to the letter she submitted to Hickson. Those documents have not yet been made public.
Torry Lewis, who unsuccessfully challenged Winslow for her District 4 seat in this fall’s local elections, filed the complaint prompting the investigation in October.
“This just shows time after time her blatant disrespect for the law and ethics of our city,” said Lewis, who grabbed about 31 percent of the vote in his quest to unseat her. “To blame a staff member is ridiculous. She has oversight of her office.”
Lewis based much of his campaign on criticism of Winslow’s expense reports, noting she has the highest out-of-pocket expenses of any on the 16-member council.
Winslow was reimbursed $21,600 in fiscal year 2013 for everything from paying day laborers to clean up her district to reimbursing staffers for fuel and donating to local community causes, according to records obtained from the city’s finance department.
By comparison, the average annual reimbursement for other council members was $5,046 each in the same year.
Winslow has attributed her out-of-pocket expenses to being heavily involved in her community.
The city’s ethics board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday on the second floor of Atlanta City Hall. The meeting will be open to the public.
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