DeKalb ethics complaints will be made public
DeKalb County Ethics Officer Stacey Kalberman said Wednesday that complaints against officials can be revealed, resolving a question over whether initial allegations of misbehavior were public records.
Kalberman said the Georgia Attorney General’s Office gave advice that ethics complaints are subject to disclosure under the state’s Open Records Act, and the Board of Ethics will follow that advice.
The DeKalb Board of Ethics was previously considering whether to keep complaints confidential until they were investigated.
Kalberman had said that she wanted an opportunity to review complaints before they were released because some allegations can be frivolous and politically motivated.
But an attorney for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lesli Gaither, argued at last week’s Board of Ethics meeting that the public needed a basic understanding of what was being investigated.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
