Nathan Deal Obstructing Investigation of Ethics Violations [View all]

[hueymahl]

http://atlantaunfiltered.com/2013/09/19/deal-recruited-new-ethics-chief-as-probe-of-his-campaign-heated-up/
and
http://www.myajc.com/weblogs/political-insider/2013/sep/19/your-daily-jolt-governor-slams-newspaper-reviving-/

So, here is a summary of what is going on. I happen to have some inside knowledge:

During Deal's campaign for Governer, he funneled campaign money to his daughter and a company she controlled. There were other allegations about payments relating to private planes owned or controlled by family and friends. Rightfully, an ethics complaint was filed against Deal.

The ethics head and her chief investigator, both attorneys, were prepared to serve extensive subpoenas on the Deal campaign. At the same time, the Deal administration was working to find and replace these two attorneys. They found Holly LaBerge, an alligator hunter and former Gap employee (think Sarah Palin, but not as accomplished - you can't make this stuff up).

So the ethics head goes to the commission to get approval to send out the subpoenas. The Commission Chairman, Patrick Millsaps, refuses, citing "cost concerns". He then cuts the pay of the ethics head and fires her chief investigator; the ethics head later resigns. Patrick Millsaps later resigns to become the campaign chairman for Newt Gingrich. Millsaps was appointed by Deal. Gingrich and Deal share the same attorney, Randy Evans.

LaBerge is then hired, and she causes the investigation to go away, reducing the serious charges to mere "technical" violations. She does this in close coordination with Deal's inner circle. In an ongoing lawsuit, multiple parties at the ethics commission report that LaBerge bragged “Well, I made Governor Deal’s little problem go away; so as far as I’m concerned from this point on, he and his office owe me a favor, they owe me.”

She also ordered another employee to hide documents and keep them off of the servers, a direct violation of Georgia law. When that employee refused, she had him fired.

The ironic thing is, that the original ethics charges, while serious, were not that big a deal (at least by Georgia standards). The cover-up and the ruining of multiple people's lives, that is a HUGE deal, even by our backwoods standards.

Keep an eye on this one. It should be a doozy.