Suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis is either a bully who threatened companies for campaign money or a conscientious public servant who was simply offended when businesses wouldn’t return his calls.
Jurors will have to decide which portrayal of Ellis to believe.
Each side delivered opening statements Tuesday in the trial of Ellis, who's accused of using his power as the elected leader of DeKalb to shake down companies for political donations. If they didn't contribute, they'd stop getting county contracts worth up to $4 million, prosecutors said.
“Power, punishment, perjury. That’s what the evidence will show you this case is all about,” said Lawanda Hodges, an assistant district attorney. “The evidence will show you that there were consequences to not giving the defendant campaign contributions. You may lose your work and not get your work back unless and until you give a campaign contribution.”
Defense attorney Dwight Thomas said the case was built on secretly recorded conversations by a key witness, former DeKalb Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton, who was trying to save himself from prosecution and gather dirt on Ellis.
Thomas displayed a photo illustration showing a picture of Walton inside a pot on a stove, driving home the point that Walton was in hot water after he admitted lying under oath, and that’s why he wore a wire for prosecutors.
“He manipulates the conversation to be what he wants it from his perspective so he can get out of that pot of boiling water,” Thomas said. “The true victims are truth and justice.”
Ellis has pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally mixed his position as DeKalb's CEO with his 2012 re-election campaign when he allegedly pulled government business from contractors who refused to donate.
In short clips of recordings played for jurors, they heard Ellis telling Walton to stop doing business with a company that wouldn’t give political contributions.
“You dry them up. You don’t give ‘em any more work,” Ellis said on the recording.
But Thomas said those recordings were taken out of context, and Ellis repeatedly says on tape he wouldn’t punish companies for not giving a contribution, though he expected them to return phone calls from the head of the county they did business with.
There will be no evidence that Ellis abused his power, Thomas said.
“His actions are consistent with the legitimate powers and duties that he has as chief executive officer,” Thomas said.
But just a few hours after those assurances, a former receptionist and clerk at a family-owned Austell business with a $250,000 contract to service generators described a man who was aggressive in soliciting campaign contributions and vindictive when he didn’t get them.
After Eneida Robles told Ellis the company didn’t want to give money to his campaign, he got upset.
“He pretty much was very pissed off, if I can say that. He pretty much flew off his rocker,” Robles said. “He told me, ‘If you don’t want to service DeKalb County, then I will contact the purchasing manager over there.’”
Less than 30 minutes later, a call came in from Walton, the head of DeKalb’s purchasing office.
“I was pretty much worried about my job because I thought I had cost them the contract,” Robles testified.
Soon, requests to service DeKalb County generators stopped, Robles testified. Power and Energy Services didn’t receive any more work under that contract.
The indictment against Ellis, handed down in June 2013, also accuses him of threatening or taking action against two other companies as well unless they gave money to his $1.5 million re-election war chest.
After a lobbyist for a company called Ciber Inc. told Ellis she wouldn’t contribute to his campaign, he allegedly told the company it “would never do business again for DeKalb County,” Hodges said.
In another case, Ellis told Walton to leave alone a small real estate company called National Property Institute in south DeKalb County two days after it contributed $2,500, Hodges said.
Ellis also faces a bribery charge based on the accusation that he asked an Indiana-based biosolids company, Merrell Bros., for $25,000 — 10 times more than the $2,500 maximum donation allowed under state law.
The trial, which could last between four and six weeks, is the culmination of years of investigations into corruption in DeKalb County.
After hearing all the evidence in the case, jurors will have to decide whether Ellis crossed the line into illegal behavior.
It’s legal to ask county contractors for campaign money, but a politician can’t promise or threaten anything in exchange.
Thomas said Ellis didn’t steal taxpayer money or personally profit from DeKalb County contractors.
“There’s no evidence in this case of a mafia shakedown,” Thomas said. “The case is not going to be that sexy. … There will be no evidence in this case that Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis was selling his office.”
Gov. Nathan Deal suspended Ellis from office soon after he was indicted.
If Ellis is acquitted, he would return to his elected position leading DeKalb. But if a jury finds Ellis guilty, he could face up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted of the most serious charge, bribery.
About the Author
