How a Vernon Jones ‘fix’ left DeKalb’s ethics board more broken
The ethics board in DeKalb County is now in the ditch, pushed there by a judge’s ruling that said it was unconstitutional.
Two years ago, 92 percent of the county's corruption-weary voters passed a referendum that created a new ethics board, with a majority of the seven seats picked by outside groups such as the local chamber of commerce or the bar association.
The thought was this would create a firewall to keep pols from protecting themselves. But the law is the law, unless an appeal further interprets that law. The judge said all seats must be appointed by elected officials. So state legislators, in a pre-emptive move, went about fixing the ethics board so it could keep functioning.
Enter state Rep. Vernon Jones, the county's former CEO, who sees a North DeKalb conspiracy around every corner. Thanks to him, the legislative effort to fix the board and leave some independence died. And so the board sits there, toothless.
About the Author
Bill Torpy, who writes about metro Atlanta for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, joined the newspaper in 1990.
