LEE MAY
Age: 37
Occupation: Political consultant and author, "My God, My Politics."
Education: Bachelor's degree, Clark Atlanta University. Master's degree, divinity, Emory University.
Residence: south DeKalb
Family: Wife Robin, two young daughters
Political Experience: DeKalb County Commissioner since 2000.
The story so far
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted CEO Burrell Ellis on June 18 on 15 criminal counts , 14 of them felonies.
Gov. Nathan Deal, following the recommendation of a three-member panel, removed Ellis from office Tuesday. DeKalb County Commission Presiding Officer was sworn in as acting CEO hours later.
County and staff officials have yet to determine if May must step down from his commission seat to serve as interim CEO.
Ellis is scheduled to be arraigned on July 29.
Lee May, the presiding officer of the DeKalb Commission who often clashed publicly with CEO Burrell Ellis, is the county’s new interim leader.
May was sworn in as acting CEO late Tuesday, just an hour after Gov. Nathan Deal announced he was suspending Ellis from office as he fights 14 felony charges. May, a fellow Democrat, had several political run-ins with Ellis but was widely seen as a likely successor.
“I gave this appointment thoughtful consideration and I was looking for a leader who had already won approval from DeKalb voters and knows how the county operates,” Deal said in a prepared statement about his decision.
The decision mirrors county law, which calls for the commission's presiding officer to becomeinterim CEO if the post is permanently vacated. May must step down if Ellis is cleared.
The CEO switch is the latest political upheaval for DeKalb, where Deal earlier this year moved to replace more than half the school board when the system’s accreditation was threatened. In that case there was no established succession plan and Deal moved slowly to find and name replacements.
He tapped May one day after a three-member panel unanimously recommended Ellis’ suspension. Several county leaders met with the governor Tuesday, lobbying for May and noting that county law called for the presiding officer to ascend.
“I don’t know what the other options could have been,” said state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Atlanta, who met with Deal shortly before the announcement.
Ellis could not be reached for comment Tuesday but one of his attorneys said he will stand by earlier statements that he would abide by the governor’s decision. The attorney, J. Tom Morgan, said Ellis will devote his time to fighting the charges of theft, extortion and conspiracy.
“He looks forward to getting his job back,” Morgan said.
May spent Tuesday in regular commission meetings. Just before the announcement, he met privately with each commissioner to tell them of his appointment, staffers said.
A pastor’s son with a divinity degree, May said he hadn’t called Ellis but will “pray” for his colleague. He said he understands the appointment is temporary.
“My message is, we’re in this together, and we’re going to move this county forward together,” he said, adding he will stay in his office in the commission building.
May became the youngest person elected to the DeKalb County Commission when, at age 30, he ran and won in 2006.
As the commission’s budget chairman, May has had several high-profile disputes with Ellis over budgeting and taxes. Most notably, he was among the minority of commissioners who voted against Ellis’ 2011 budget, which raised the county tax rate 26 percent.
May also suffered a series of bankruptcies in part from his failed effort to run a movie theater near Lithonia – an experience he said helped him understand taxpayers’ financial struggles.
For Ellis, the suspension stalls what had been a steady political climb since he first won office as a DeKalb commissioner in 2000.
An Ivy-League educated real estate attorney, Ellis was elected to DeKalb’s top job in 2000, handling daily government operations for a county of 700,000 people. He won re-election with 60 percent of the vote against two rivals last year.
But Ellis has been operating under a cloud since January, when investigators from the district attorney’s office searched his home and office and seized campaign records and county contracts. At the time, a special grand jury was investigating allegations of corruption in county contracts.
The results of that investigation remain under seal.
Last month’s indictment appears separate. It alleges Ellis ordered county staff to compile a list of vendors who did work for DeKalb so that he could call them for campaign donations, threatening those who declined with the loss of work.
If Ellis is cleared on those charges of theft, conspiracy and extortion, he can resume office. He will continue to draw his $150,000 county salary during his suspension.
It was immediately unclear late Tuesday if May must step down from his commission seat to serve as the caretaker CEO.
Until that is answered, DeKalb’s commission will operate with six members. But nearly all of May’s constituents in southeast DeKalb will still be represented by one of two “super district” commissioners.
May has made no secret of his eventual plan to run for CEO — even though he also says the job should be eliminated. He has often joked he wants to be DeKalb’s last CEO, shepherding in the more common county manager form of government used by other metro Atlanta counties.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James indicated Monday he plans to begin Ellis’ trial by year’s end. If Ellis is convicted a special election will be scheduled.
Amid Tuesday’s events, the DeKalb Commission approved a $560 million annual budget that Ellis developed with May earlier this year. The budget keeps the tax rate steady.
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