Atlanta Unfiltered

The state’s top two ethics investigators were preparing in June to serve subpoenas on Gov. Nathan Deal, his chief of staff and other associates in connection with Deal’s 2010 campaign when one investigator’s salary was cut and the other’s job was eliminated. Drafts of subpoenas prepared, but never served, by the staff of the state ethics commission raise questions about $322,000 the campaign paid to companies that Deal owns or has an interest in, or to businesses controlled by his associates.

Former Georgia Congressmen Jim Marshall and John Linder paid hefty, six-figure bonuses to their staffs before leaving Washington, a newly released analysis has found. Marshall, defeated last year for re-election, paid more than twice as much in staff salaries in the fourth quarter of 2010 as in the previous three, the analysis showed. Linder, who retired after nine terms, paid his staff 86 percent more. Those increased payments ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in Congress.

Last month, the Senate Republican Caucus reported spending $22,000-plus to support Gwinnettian Garry Guan’s race for the state Senate. That would be a problem. Georgia law treats those expenditures as campaign contributions — capped at $2,400 per race. The remaining 20 grand would be illegal. Now, Republicans say that disclosure was a mistake, that the spending benefited other candidates as well. But that explanation only underscores other weaknesses in campaign finance practices.

Gov.-elect Nathan Deal left Congress this year but still made the list of 2010’s “most embarrassing re-elects” compiled by a Washington advocacy group. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which filed the 2009 complaint that led to a congressional ethics investigation of Deal, described him as a “new governor to watch” in a just-released report.

Columbus attorney says prosecutors had vendetta to ruin him The curious case of Ken Hodges, Part II Did Oxendine use investigation to influence Westmoreland? UGA journalism professor cleared of all charges Democrats want ethics panel member suspended Ex-APD chief of staff gets probation for smuggling phone to son in jail DeKalb fire chief resigns after […]

Former state Rep. Roger Byrd pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to two counts of theft by taking and was ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution. Byrd got 20 years on probation, but no prison time if he repays the money within 30 months. (If not, he would go to prison for 4 1/2 to 5 years.) Prosecutors said Byrd took $100,000 from the Jeff Davis County Development Authority and another $100,000 from a relocated manufacturer that folded after less than a year, leaving the authority mre than $2 million in debt.

More than $90,000 improperly paid to U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal’s chief of staff has wound up in the hands of a Gainesville charity. Chris Riley, Deal’s top congressional aide, had to return the money to the campaign last year because the payments exceeded outside income limits for highly paid Congressional staffers. Deal’s latest disclosure report, filed April 15, shows the congressman’s campaign wrote a check in February for $91,124 to Good News at Noon.

Josh Kenyon has been scared straight. With the federal pen now five years behind him, the former chief of staff for Fulton County Commission Chairman Mitch Skandalakis is helping the man who put him in jail teach corporate ethics. Kenyon lost his job, his wife, his family and his law license after serving six months […]

DeKalb County’s top cop took more than $35,000 in comp days even after his supervisor refused to sign off on them, investigative records show. Terrell Bolton was fired as police chief in February for, among other things, abusing comp time. Although DeKalb’s police manual forbids executives from accruing comp time or overtime pay, the chief […]