Digging deeper
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has closely tracked whistleblower complaints, including recent filings linked to Gov. Nathan Deal’s administration, since first bringing readers word of the lawsuits filed by former members of the ethics commission’s staff.
A former Georgia National Guard spokeswoman is claiming in a whistleblower lawsuit that she was fired after raising concerns about “unethical and inappropriate” conduct by her boss, a former GOP state senator appointed to the post by Gov. Nathan Deal.
Mary Therese Grabowski, a former Middle Georgia TV anchor, said in the complaint that she was pushed out after asking one too many questions about Adjutant Gen. Jim Butterworth's behavior. She said she repeatedly questioned Butterworth's participation in a charity drive, his free use of a suite at a Braves game and his trip to Paris with the governor in 2013.
The Georgia National Guard said in a statement that Grabowski was fired after refusing a reassignment and not for any behavior “protected by the whistleblower statute” or other state and federal laws. The Guard, which didn’t respond to specific allegations, added that it “stands ready to defend its position” in the courts.
Grabowski says in her lawsuit that she was hired in March 2012 to improve the Guard’s relationship with the media and protect Butterworth, who was tapped in late 2011 to head the unit. She said she quickly noticed “numerous violations” of laws and regulations by the department during her stormy 17-month tenure. The lawsuit spells out several of them:
- Grabowski says she questioned Butterworth's participation in a 2012 charity drive for cancer research in which he offered donors access to an "exclusive" barbecue and open house at the Clay National Guard Center. She says the event, attended by about 40 people, involved the significant use of Guard resources.
- She says she was inappropriately ordered by Butterworth's wife to help publicize a country singer, Kaley Caperton, who was a friend of the couple's. Grabowski says she did her best to "minimize" her role by contacting only one radio station.
- Grabowski says her boss violated federal regulations when he accepted free use of a Braves suite during a game in June 2013.
- And she says she was overruled when she objected to Butterworth's trip with Deal to the Paris Air Show in 2013 amid planned government furloughs. She said she was told at the time he was attending as a guest of the governor's office but that he stayed abroad several extra days.
The lawsuit was brought by Kim Worth, the attorney who also brought the whistleblower lawsuit for former ethics commission director Stacey Kalberman. She won more than $1 million after a weeklong trial in that high-profile case, which involved claims that Deal's office sought to force Kalberman from office for too vigorously pursuing ethics complaints targeting his 2010 campaign.
Deal's decision to promote Butterworth earned criticism from several retired generals in 2012, but more recently he was praised for his response to the February snowstorm that paralyzed much of Georgia.
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