Gadfly Matthew Cardinale is suing the Atlanta City Council for circumventing the state Open Meetings Law.
He wants to stop city staff from briefing council committees privately. The committees exclude the public by claiming not to have a quorum.
Cardinale contends case law prohibits this practice and also said the committees meet privately even with a quorum.
Cardinale, a non-lawyer representing himself, lost a 2010 lawsuit challenging a secret council vote to limit public speaking at meetings. This time he may have more chops.
Attorney General Sam Olen's office is reviewing the lawsuit to decide whether to join the action. Olens made open meetings a signature issue for his office. STEVE VISSER
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Former Govs. Sonny Perdue and Zell Miller will serve as national co-chairmen of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich's run for the White House.
Current Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal will serve as the state chairman.
All three had previously endorsed the former Georgia congressman's bid for the 2012 GOP nomination. AARON GOULD SHEININ
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Three men pleaded guilty Monday to filing 123 false tax returns and using information from homeless people to collect more than $1.6 million in fraudulent refunds, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Rahman Hill, 40, of Mableton; Keith Lamone Richard, 40, of Decatur; and Peter Raymond Williams, 42, of Passaic, N.J., entered pleas in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. They are to be sentenced July 23. The men got information from people in homeless shelters and jails and filed the fraudulent returns between December 2005 and March 2007, prosecutors said. BILL RANKIN
County by county
News Quiz
Were you keeping with the news in your neighborhood last week? Take the quiz! B4
Hometown Hero
Group tries to raise money to acquire a valuable artifact from the War of 1812. B5
About the Author
