Trial in ethics commission suit delayed
The trial in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by the former deputy director of the state ethics commission has been put on hold until at least April.
Sherilyn Streicker’s case against her former employer, in which she accuses it of forcing her from her job in 2011 for pressing an investigation into Gov. Nathan Deal’s 2010 campaign, was set to begin Friday. But a Fulton County judge agreed to put the case on hold as several witnesses and an attorney had conflicts.
Judge Constance Russell agreed to rule on the state’s move to bar Streicker’s attorneys from forcing Deal to testify. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week that Deal, two top aides and his private attorney have all received subpoenas as potential witnesses.
A second lawsuit, filed by Stacey Kalberman, the commission’s former director, is still set for trial Feb. 14, but is also likely to be delayed. Kalberman left the commission after it made a deep cut in her pay. Like Streicker, she says she was forced out for pursuing the Deal investigation.
Kalberman and Streicker had been investigating a series of accusations that Deal financially benefited from campaign expenditures, that he improperly used a campaign account to pay legal fees and that he improperly reported some expenditures on his disclosures.
Deal was cleared of major ethics charges in 2012 and agreed to pay $3,350 in fees for technical defects in his campaign finance reports.
