Deal appoints GOP lawmaker to pardons board

Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday appointed state Rep. James Mills, R-Gainesville, to the state Board of Pardons and Parole, a full-time position with a salary of more than $100,000.

Mills, from Deal's home county of Hall, will resign his seat in the House on Oct. 1, which will allow a special election to fill his seat on Nov. 8, the same day as local elections.

Mills will replace Gale Buckner, whose term ends Dec. 31.

The appointment comes the day after the state executed Troy Davis in the murder of a Savannah police officer, and the same week that the Pardons and Parole board refused to commute Davis' sentence.

“The duties of the Pardons and Paroles board involve equally important and difficult decisions. James Mills is a man of strong faith, who will ably balance our hopes for rehabilitation with our need for community safety," Deal said in a statement.

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Aaron Gould Sheinin

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