DeKalb County Interim CEO Lee May declined an offer to write an op-ed for this page addressing allegations contained in an investigative report released last week. Following are some DeKalb officials’ comments on the matter from AJC and Channel 2 Action News coverage in the wake of the report’s release.
May blasted the results of the investigation, saying he expected more than a 40-page report that cost taxpayers an estimated $850,000. May denied the report’s allegation that he borrowed money from a subordinate in violation of the county’s charter.
“The content of this report is at best laughable, and at worst it’s pitiful, ” May said. “And I can’t be any stronger than that. And that has absolutely nothing to do with asking me to resign. If that’s the thought, so be it. And I’ll answer that question for you right now, I’m not resigning,”
May said the report failed to live up to the investigators’ assertion that the county’s government was “rotten to the core.”
May said he wants his money back for the investigation.
“I talked about this being the right thing, but the wrong person. And, frankly, I have to apologize to taxpayers, for I erred in the selection of Mike Bowers — not in conducting this investigation, but I erred in the person we brought in,” May said. “I’m going to be asking for some of our money back. And I will be taking the appropriate measures in order to do that.”
Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton: Her spending was also criticized by the investigators. She said the report will damage the county rather than help restore it.
“It reeks of a political witch hunt, and it’s filled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, ” she said. “It appears that it was written to expressly hurt the county.”
DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James: "We're going to be looking to Mr. Bowers' report to determine what if anything in here is criminal. I don't have evidence; I have assertions."
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