Like a mirage, roughly millions of dollars in fines owed to the state by politicians and public officeholders vanished last month, forgiven en masse because of bureaucratic confusion and a watchdog agency’s shortage of funds.
It was money that, if collected, would have gone back into the state treasury during tight budget times. A portion would help subsidize Georgia’s ethics commission, charged with making sure elected leaders and office seekers follow campaign fundraising and spending laws.
Instead, 2011 late fines that once tallied between $5 million and $7 million have been reduced to less than $1 million, according to databases obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request. Unless the commission decides otherwise, some state lawmakers who records show have been habitually late reporting campaign spending could be off the hook for thousands of dollars owed.
“It’s just a huge mess,” said William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, “because their system apparently isn’t functioning properly.”
In Tuesday's newspaper, the AJC takes a close look at costly bureaucratic confusion at Georgia's ethics commission. It's a story you'll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper's iPad app . Subscribe today .
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