Ethics commission Chairman Kevin Abernethy pressured the agency’s attorney to quietly settle cases against Gov. Nathan Deal, the attorney said in a sworn statement obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Abernethy vigorously denied the claims made by Elisabeth Murray-Obertein, the commission’s staff attorney. She made the accusation in an affidavit filed Friday in a lawsuit brought by the commission’s former deputy director, Sherilyn Streicker.
“I deny everything that is being said,” Abernethy said. “I resent it. It’s false.”
The commission in 2012 was to consider five cases accusing Deal of misusing campaign funds in his 2010 election. In the weeks leading up to the commission’s July 23 meeting, where the major violations were dismissed, Murray-Obertein said Abernethy called her several times to discuss the cases.
“Commissioner Abernethy attempted in each phone conversation to pressure me into settling the complaint,” Murray-Obertein says in the affidavit. “In fact, Commissioner Abernethy informed me that the commissioners would vote to dismiss the complaints (and that I should settle the complaints because there was no point in having hearings).”
Deal was cleared of major charges and paid $3,350 in administrative fees for “technical defects” to his campaign reports. Murray-Obertein had recommended $70,000 in fines.
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