Deal and Ox will be out on ethics misconduct. Johnson and Handel will go to runoff.

I think Rick Thomson gave Sonny a 60-day notice that he was leaving as ED of the Ethics Commission, and he was just hired help.

You don’t think someone who was elected owes the state at least that amount of time? Really? And her deputy left several months ago, so there really is no one there to “take over” unless Sonny can find a “yessir, Boss” to takeover for the remainder of her term.

Thank you for the clarification. I will stand corrected on that one regarding Marty Ryall.

But the payment to Tactical Communications being so close to the time she registers for her governor’s campaign is still in the “suspicious” column. Unless Karen is one of these folks who makes life-altering decisions inside of 24 hours of receiving any kind of research done by Tactical, and would go “Um, golly, I was going to run for SOS again, but based on on what Tactical says, I’m not going to run for secretary again but run for Governor instead. Let’s go register right now!”

Clearly you are an operative of an opposing gubernatorial campaign. Is “Elin is Hot” an alias for True Grit? These transparent visceral baseless attacks will not get your candidate out of his ethical quicksand…

http://ethics.georgia.gov/Reports/Campaign/Campaign_ReportOptions.aspx?NameID=466&FilerID=C2006000168&CDRID=9660

1. Using campaign contributions from one elected office to pay employees for a higher level elected office when she had absolutely no doubt she wasn’t going to run for Secretary of State. This encompasses 2 violations of ethics in government act laws.

2. The more serious law broken is that of O.C.G.A. 16-10-20 which concerns the following “A person who knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or makes or uses any false writing or document, knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government or of the government of any county, city, or other political subdivision of this state shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, or both.”

Her statement that $6000 was paid to Marty Ryall due to “deferred payment of Sec of State political work as referenced in 6/30/07 finance report” is, if one goes to look at the June 2007 report, patently false.

If you go back further in her 2006 SOS disclosures, you will see that Ryall got paid his monthly salaries of $6000, as well as a $30,000 win bonus. I couldn’t find any notations of “deferred payment”.

It is one thing to just misuse campaign funds. It is quite another to lie about the purpose of an expenditure, and sign the document attesting to the “truth” of it when it is a false statement.

If anyone from the Handel campaign were to try and shove in a quick “revision” to any disclosure now, that would just add another charge of “obstruction of justice” for the first violation of O.C.G.A. 16-10-20.

http://www.peachpundit.com/2009/12/22/karen-handel-aims-to-win-the-gop-gubernatorial-nomination/#comment-203886

Frankly, ethics is at the core of every issue. Ethical compromises are standing in the way of doing what is right for the people of Georgia. Certain industries get tax breaks over others not because of the merits of their worth, but the influence of their lobbyists.

We need a Governor who will see through that and do what’s right for the people of Georgia.

http://ethics.georgia.gov/Reports/Campaign/Campaign_ReportOptions.aspx?NameID=466&FilerID=C2006000168&CDRID=9660

On March 26, 2009, her campaign for Governor “officially” registered with the state ethics commission. I say “officially” because it was talked about for months prior.

On March 27, an expenditure in the amount of $10,000 was paid to Tactical Communications on Collier Road in Atlanta from her Secretary of State campaign account under the description of: contract work for Sec of State campaign related activities.

The same company shows-up on her Governor’s race June 30 disclosure as well.

Also on her June 30 2009 Secretary of State disclosure is a payment recorded on 01/01/2009 to Marty Ryall, and the reason given for this payment is “deferred payment of Sec of State political work as referenced in 6/30/07 finance report.”

Well…I went to go look at her “6/30/2007″ Secretary of State report…and, no notation is present on that disclosure as any kind of debt owed to Marty Ryall.

When did it become legal for a candidate holding one constitutional-level office to use her contributions received from that office to help her run for another constitutional office like Governor?

Same for us “Paulistas”.