Gov. Nathan Deal has appointed a familiar member of his political team to the state ethics commission.
Deal picked Tricia Pridemore, who was his choice to head the state Republican Party in 2011 and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2014, to fill the seat he’d originally given to Rick Thompson, a former ethics commission director.
The panel oversees campaign finance and lobbyist registration and disclosure issues. It rules on complaints filed against candidates, donors and lobbyists.
Deal's 2010 campaign for governor faced a lengthy commission investigation into accusations that staffers misused campaign funds. The commission eventually levied a $3,350 penalty for a series of "technical defects" in his financial and campaign disclosures.
Thompson turned down the appointment after questions were raised about his eligibility, since he had registered to lobby for a company that provides disclosure services to candidates, elected officials and others regulated by the commission.
State law says no one may be appointed to a commission that regulates a company the individual represented for one year after he ends his lobbyist registration.
While it’s unclear whether Thompson’s company would be regulated by the commission, the concerns raised were enough to lead him to refuse the appointment.
Pridemore was the state director for Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project in 2010 when she backed Deal’s campaign for governor. She and her family contributed about $10,000 to Deal’s campaign that year.
The next year, Pridemore, a Marietta-based businesswoman with a background in technology companies, was Deal’s choice to become chairwoman of the Georgia Republican Party. But GOP convention delegates rebuffed him and stuck with incumbent Chairwoman Sue Everhart.
Deal appointed Pridemore to the Georgia World Congress Center board and then hired her as director of the Governor's Office of Workforce Development. The next legislative session, Deal worked to transfer tens of millions of dollars in funding from the state Department of Labor to Pridemore's agency.
In 2014, she ran for Congress in the 11th District, coming in third in the GOP primary for a seat eventually won by Barry Loudermilk.
Later that year she was named co-chairwoman of Deal's inaugural committee. That committee raised $1.4 million for the event, but it was set up to shield the indentities of the special interest donors who paid for the party. She also led Deal's inaugural committee in 2010.
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