More Allegations Of Impropriety For Republican Governor

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is in the news again and things just keep looking worse and worse for this clown.

A little background from an article that appeared today on Raw Story:

Deal rode the wave of Tea Party fervor into office in January of 2011, but the Deal for Governor 2010 campaign was charged with financial irregularities. The state appointed an ethics commission to investigate, headed by Stacey Kalberman and deputy investigator Sherilyn Streicker.

When Deal’s office learned in June of 2011 that Kalberman and the ethics committee were about to issue subpoenas for Deal staff and the governor himself, Deal gutted the ethics commission’s funding, fired Streicker and cut Kalberman’s salary by $35,000.

Deal replaced Kalberman with attorney Holly LaBerge in September of 2011, who bragged to staffers that she was going to make Deal’s ethics problems “go away.”

If that wasn't bad enough, Holly LaBerge filed a memo Monday detailing some not-so-gentle persuasion by Deal aides:

Ryan informed me that it was not in the agency's best interest for these cases to go to a hearing Monday; nor was it in their best political interest either and that our rule making authority may not happen if the complaints were not resolved prior to Monday.

Setting aside her whining about being on vacation (try being me) the content of that thinly-veiled threat is significant because, as is noted in this AJC artilce:

The commission by 2012 had for several years been without the power to create its own regulations and to interpret the law, a power lawmakers later gave back. Teague, according to LaBerge’s memo, said the agency might not get its power back if the Deal case wasn’t settled without a public hearing.

So why if this happened in 2012, why is this coming to light now?

Parks also claims that Olens’ office instructed LaBerge not to mention the memo during testimony in a series of whisteblower lawsuits filed by former commission employees. Olens’ spokeswoman, Lauren Kane, said no one in the attorney general’s office told anyone to do anything improper.

“Any allegation that any employee of this office has advised or instructed anyone to testify untruthfully in any way is categorically false,” Kane said.

The state has agreed to pay nearly $3 million to settle three lawsuits, and a threatened fourth, brought by former commission employees who claim they were fired or forced from office over the Deal investigation or its aftermath.

I know this is getting a bit long and excerpt heavy, but the final bit from the AJC source is significant:

Former commission director Stacey Kalberman and her top deputy, Sherilyn Streicker, were investigating the complaints against Deal’s campaign when they drafted subpoenas for records in 2011. Weeks after presenting the drafts to commissioners, Kalberman was told her salary was being cut deeply and Streicker’s job was being eliminated. Kalberman later agreed to resign.

Both later filed lawsuits. LaBerge took over in September 2011. During depositions for Kalberman’s and Streicker’s cases, commission employees — staff attorney Elisabeth Murray-Obertein and media specialist John Hair — claimed LaBerge bragged that she made Deal’s problems “go away” and said the governor owed her. LaBerge denied saying that, and Deal has repeatedly said he doesn’t know LaBerge, much less owe her.

Both Murray-Obertein and Hair were later fired; Murray-Obertein after a Capitol police officer reported she smelled of alcohol at work. Hair later sued the state, and he claims he was fired after LaBerge ordered him to destroy or alter records related to the Deal case and to Kalberman’s lawsuit. Murray-Obertein’s lawyers had told the state she intended to sue.

One day you're the fixer and the next you're the whistleblower. Given the allegations against LaBerge, I have no sympathy for the woman, but I have no real reason to doubt her claims.

Just another one of many politicians doing wrong. The party they are in doesn't matter, both have a long list.