Leadership of DeKalb
Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May remains in charge of the county’s government, as he has since Gov. Nathan Deal suspended CEO Burrell Ellis in July 2013.
But leadership of the county could change if Ellis, who is suspended without pay since his conviction, is removed from office. That wouldn’t occur until Ellis’ “final conviction,” which Georgia law defines as happening when he has exhausted appeals. A court filing last week indicated Ellis plans to appeal.
After Ellis leaves office, either by exhausting his appeals or by resigning, the job would become vacant and a special election would be held to choose a replacement CEO until Ellis’ term expires at the end of 2016. The DeKalb Commission’s presiding officer, who is currently Commissioner Larry Johnson, would become the county’s interim CEO until after the election.
Ellis’ appeals could continue to the point where a special election won’t be held and May retains power for the next year and a half.
A special election is only called for if the vacancy in the CEO’s office occurs more than 180 days before the end of Ellis’ term on Dec. 31, 2016, according to DeKalb’s Organizational Act. In that case, the position would be filled during the regularly scheduled November 2016 election.
Four times, prosecutors offered DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, accused of corruption, a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid prison, keep his law license and not admit to a crime, District Attorney Robert James said Wednesday.
Each time, Ellis turned down the offer, James said. DeKalb’s top politician elected to go to trial instead.
Wednesday, Ellis paid for rolling the dice and was sentenced to 18 months in prison plus 3 ½ years on probation.
While he is almost certain to appeal, he is for now a felon. He will lose his license to practice law, and some speculate that his political career is over.
“We did everything we could to ensure that Mr. Ellis would not be incarcerated… to ensure that Mr. Ellis would not be separated from his friends and family,” James said. “I don’t think I’ve ever stretched this far. … I gave Mr. Ellis four chances.”
Ellis was convicted last week of one count of attempted extortion and three counts of perjury. The jury, however, acquitted him of five counts of attempted extortion, extortion and bribery.
As he was escorted from the courtroom Wednesday, Ellis did not react to cheers and shouts of encouragement from supporters filling every seat and lining the walls. His elderly mother, who was in court every day, wept once she made her way to the hallway.
Judge Courtney Johnson has refused to allow Ellis to be free on bond while he appeals, so he will be sent to the state prison system soon.
The prison sentence brings an abrupt end to Ellis’ rising star in politics. A native of Washington, D.C., Ellis came to Georgia after graduating with an economics and finance degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and with a law degree from the University of Texas, where he was student body president.
Former DeKalb County Sheriff Tom Brown said Ellis once had potential to do “great things for the county, for the state,” adding that there had been an expectation that Ellis would some day run for the the U.S. Senate. “This is sad,” he said.
Former DeKalb CEO Liane Levetan appointed Ellis to DeKalb’s development authority, his first position with the county. In her initial meeting with Ellis, Levetan said, “I saw someone anxious to be involved.”
“Sometimes slips are made and and, unfortunately, he is going to have to do what he has to do,” she said.
National Urban League President Marc Morial, a decades-long friend who was mayor of New Orleans, said he and Ellis were “part of the affirmative action generation.” At the University of Pennsylvania, Ellis was seen as “studious. He wasn’t the hanging out type.”
Ellis was a member of the DeKalb County Commission before being elected as CEO in 2008. When he ran again in 2012, he won the primary by a large margin and was unopposed in the general election.
“I know the travails and trappings of public office,” Morial said. “This was a difficult experience not just for this entire county, this entire community, but for this family.” Ellis is married with 10-year-old twins.
James said he first offered Ellis a deal a few months after he was indicted in 2013 and again before he went on trial the first time. After a jury couldn’t reach a decision in the case, and the judge declared a mistrial, James made the same offer a third time last March and a fourth time as they were picking a jury for his retrial, which started June 1.
But James said Ellis suffered from “arrogance and hubris.” Even as he was about to be sentenced, the prosecutor said, “he refuses to accept responsibility.”
Ellis, who is still CEO but suspended without pay, looked tired as he faced the judge.
He apologized “to the citizens for acts that might have cast this county in a bad light,” but he insisted that he was always guided by what he thought was best for DeKalb.
“I never ever sought to enrich myself personally,” he said. “I worked hard for the people of DeKalb County.
“I seek excellence, not perfection, in myself. I believe in leading by example. I am driven at times. A type-A leader. That’s only part of who I am.”
Judge Johnson said a long prison term would serve no purpose, but that Ellis still had to be punished. He nodded occasionally as the judge lectured him.
“Throughout this process, what I have been waiting to hear was some sort of acceptance of responsibility,” Johnson said. “I heard a little bit of it today.
“I do believe you had good intentions for the people of this county,” Johnson said. “Somewhere along the way, your intentions became more focused on your own personal interests than the citizens of this county.”
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