“This document is only an overview of some of our findings … . It is not the ‘final report’ as envisioned when we were retained … .”
From the opening of the DeKalb County corruption report.
Those lines slash rapidly to the chase. Yet, despite last week’s release of a hotly worded report, a “final,” comprehensive analysis of just what all is amiss in DeKalb remains as overdue as it was last March when special investigators were hired to provide answers.
Citizens still don’t know the full extent of possible wrongdoing in this important county. What was offered instead was an incomplete report that promised more than it delivered.
Worse yet, the document touched off public bickering between the county’s interim CEO and the former Georgia Attorney General he hired to get to the core of what was going on in scandal-plagued DeKalb.
This story can’t end with melodrama. DeKalb, metro Atlanta and Georgia warrant much better than the heavy-on-noise, short-on-insight allegations flung by investigator Mike Bowers and interim county CEO Lee May.
Rather than a collaborative, sober discussion of problems, what transpired instead last week could be repackaged as a new reality TV show: “The Real Leaders of DeKalb County.” Profits from the sordid tell-all could perhaps provide a payment path toward some investigative party that could discover, with finality, just what is really wrong in DeKalb County. And act to rectify any wrongdoing.
That we still don’t know just how deep and wide corruption flows throughout DeKalb government is a travesty. And it should not be tolerated any longer.
Given that the county seems incapable of adequately investigating itself, it is past time for a respected, neutral entity to paddle into the soap opera called DeKalb and begin moving to shut down the long-running, destructive sideshow there that’s battered citizen confidence in government. That will require an investigative player with sufficient authority and force of law behind it.
The goal should be simple: To investigate, compel and unearth by any legal means necessary all of the county’s dirty laundry.
This work can wait no longer. Finding the appropriate party presents a challenge, given that some behavior of DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James has been questioned by Bowers & Co. That crosses off the D.A.’s office as the best agency to pursue the needed investigation.
That leaves the U.S. Attorney’s office, Georgia’s Attorney General and Gov. Nathan Deal’s office as prime possibilities to lead this important inquiry. Any, or all, of these entities should quickly wade into DeKalb’s quagmire with the goal of finding any possible wrongdoing and moving quickly to forcefully address it. Nothing less should suffice for Georgia’s fourth-most populous county.
This state has painfully gained some valuable insights in how to proceed. We need only to summon the stamina and guts to quickly do so. The Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal shows a way forward.
A few years ago, after growing angry over consistent stonewalling and obfuscation by then-APS leaders, then-Gov. Sonny Purdue ordered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to get to the core of CRCT test cheating. Armed with sufficient resources – and subpoena power – GBI agents methodically produced evidence that resulted in criminal charges against dozens of APS educators. It was a sad, but necessary episode – one that was needed to disperse the cloud of suspicion lurking over Atlanta schools.
The ongoing questions over corruption in DeKalb County are equally worthy of decisive action targeted at uncovering the full truth of what’s really afoot. The Bowers report, sketchy as it is, nonetheless raises allegations that deserve fair, thorough vetting, even if they don’t rise to the level of hyperbole found in some areas of their report. As Bowers and investigator Richard Hyde note, there’s likely more out there that warrants examination as well.
Gov. Deal, and other state or federal official should get on the case quickly, before confidence in government is further damaged.
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