Complete coverage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution brings our readers the most comprehensive coverage of the Burrell Ellis trial on our premium website, MyAJC.com/ellistrial/.
On the site:
>Read the latest AJC stories and analysis about this case.
>Browse interactives that identify the key players in the trial and recaps testimony from DeKalb Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton, the prosecution’s star witness.
>Watch reporter Watch reporter Mark Niesse’s video about the case and what’s at stake for residents.
>Review what star witness Kelvin Walton said during his testimony.
Facing sharp questions and scrambling for answers, DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis tried to justify Thursday his persistent phone calls seeking campaign donations from county contractors, saying he never punished companies for refusing to give.
But DeKalb District Attorney Robert James, during a cross-examination of Ellis, drove home the point that Ellis mixed campaign calls with county business, and he hassled companies that weren’t “responsive” to his calls.
“When these people don’t respond to your personal campaign calls, you used your power and position as a government official to make them come into your office?” James asked.
Ellis, an attorney, steadfastly denied the idea that companies had to pay him to do business with the county, but he learned from campaign calls which companies the county shouldn’t be working with.
“If I believe someone doesn’t return phone calls or delivers bad customer service or is impolite or is rude or is lying or is deceitful, then I believe I have a responsibility to look at it — no different than if I learned someone was a terrorist,” Ellis said.
The dramatic showdown arrived near the end of Ellis’ trial on extortion and bribery charges stemming from allegations that he shook down county contractors for political contributions during his 2012 re-election campaign.
The face-off between Ellis and James has been nearly two years in the making. DeKalb County’s two most powerful locally elected leaders, both Democrats, have been at odds since January 2013, when James called Ellis to testify before a special grand jury investigating corruption in the county’s water department.
While Ellis was testifying that day, James ordered a search of Ellis’ home and office. Months earlier, James had outfitted the county’s purchasing director with a recording device to capture Ellis discussing contractors. James indicted Ellis in June of 2013.
On Thursday, Ellis testified in his own defense following more than two weeks of testimony from alleged victims and the purchasing director, Kelvin Walton.
While Ellis sat at the witness stand, James took notes in red marker on a board behind him:
“People do not have to call me back!” “Vendors knew why calling!” and “Terrorist!”
Ellis acknowledged that he was always calling contractors in pursuit of campaign money — never about county business.
But Ellis said he believed it was appropriate for him to have concerns about contractors who wouldn’t call him back and treated him unprofessionally.
“I’ve never asked anyone or ordered anyone to not get work because they didn’t contribute to my campaign,” Ellis said. “I have not ordered the termination of a contract because someone didn’t return phone calls.”
Ellis collected donations from many contractors as he raised $1.5 million and easily won re-election. He has been suspended from office for more than a year since he was indicted.
“I was using a list and I was raising campaign money, soliciting campaign contributions,” Ellis said. “I didn’t believe then, and I don’t believe now, there’s anything wrong with doing that.”
Several government employees have testified that they created vendor lists during their taxpayer-funded working hours, but Ellis said he only knew the list came from Walton, who volunteered for Ellis’ campaign. Ellis said the list was compiled from publicly available agendas of the DeKalb County Commission.
Earlier in Ellis’ testimony Thursday, he explained his behavior toward the companies he’s accused of threatening.
He said he never took action against National Property Institute, which had a $1 million contract to rehab foreclosed homes. The company’s owners had previously testified that they gave to Ellis because they thought he was going to pull their contract, but Ellis said he had decided to keep the company as a contractor even before they gave him a $2,500 donation.
Another company, Power and Energy Services, stopped receiving work from DeKalb County after a campaign phone call with Ellis. Ellis said he believed the company’s co-owner, Brandon Cummings, deceived him by not telling him his position with the company. The company had a contract worth up to $250,000 to maintain generators.
“I thought this guy was giving me a hard way to go,” Ellis said. “I thought he was playing games.”
At the end of questioning by Ellis’ own attorney, he looked at jurors and professed his innocence to charges of bribery, extortion, theft and perjury.
In response to each charge, Ellis repeated a refrain four times, “I am not guilty of those charges.”
James will continue his inquiry of Ellis on Friday, and testimony in the case could conclude shortly afterward.
Closing arguments are planned for Monday, and then the jury would begin deciding the case.
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