A Gwinnett County commissioner’s challenge to the county ethics board is dead after the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear the case, his attorney says.
County Commissioner Tommy Hunter filed a lawsuit after his commission colleagues, acting on the recommendation of the ethics board, reprimanded him for posts to his personal Facebook page in 2017. The posts included derogatory comments about Democrats and racial accusations about U.S. Rep John Lewis, an icon of the civil rights movement.
Gwinnett County commissioners voted to publicly reprimand Hunter in June 2017 after an ethics complaint was filed on behalf of a Cobb County resident. The complaint said Hunter's posts violated a tenet that urged commissioners not to engage in conduct unbecoming of their office and to put "loyalty to the highest moral principles" above loyalty to political party.
It was the first ethics complaint filed in Gwinnett County since an ordinance was adopted in 2011.
Hunter’s suit said the ethics board was unconstitutional because some of its members were appointed by private entities, not public officials with the proper delegation powers. A similar lawsuit in DeKalb County was successful, but in Gwinnett, the ethics board is a recommending body. The DeKalb board could take action on its own.
Dwight Thomas, Hunter’s attorney, said the state Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case ends the issue. Since Hunter’s suit was filed, a complaint was made against another commissioner, Marlene Fosque after she criticized an anti-illegal immigration activist in a public meeting.
The ethics board in February recommended Fosque receive a written warning. Later that month, county commissioners declined to uphold the recommendation.
Hunter also filed a federal lawsuit last year that has been on hold while a resolution was pending in the state case. It seeks $5 million in damages and alleges that the commissioners' reprimand violated Hunter's First Amendment right to free speech. In addition to the monetary demands, it asks that the reprimand — which was posted at the Gwinnett County courthouse, on the county website and in the county's legal organ — be rescinded.
“Chilling of 1st Amendment political speech by government officials to negate criticism of other elected government officials … amounts to an overbroad ‘political correctness’ gag order,” Thomas wrote in the lawsuit.
This week, Thomas said depositions and other work can begin on the federal case now that the state complaint has concluded.
“Basically, the road is clear,” he said. “This is just getting started.”
Joe Sorenson, a spokesperson for Gwinnett County, said he would not comment on either piece of litigation since the federal case is pending.
Staff writer Tyler Estep contributed to this story.
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