Backroom Report For Monday 11-3-08

The media refers to him as a gadfly… he likes to call himself an ethics watchdog… but whatever you call him, George Anderson of Rome likes to stir things up. Over the years Anderson has filed zillions of ethics complaints against Georgia elected officials and candidates (mainly Republicans). Though he occasionally hits a homerun, most of his complaints are tossed for having no merit… but this time he may have opened the door for the possible dismissal or resignation of one of Georgia’s most powerful state officials.

When I was the Republican nominee for State Senate District 52 back in 2000, I was also doing consulting work and legislative candidate training as an independent contractor for the Georgia Republican Party. George Anderson filed an ethics complaint against me just a couple of weeks before the election in which he accused me of taking campaign contributions from the state GOP in excess of state limits… Of course I had done nothing wrong. The money in question was not related to my campaign… it was my salary for the consulting work and candidate training I was doing. I have a sneaking suspicion ol’ George knew I was clean, but was just trying to help out the man I was trying to unseat… former Democrat State Senator Richard Marable. The State Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint against me as having no validity… of course after the election, but Anderson had done his job of generating some bad press before Election Day.

Now someone (possibly a supporter of Bill Evans - the Democrat candidate for Sheriff of Bartow County) has contacted Anderson and leaked to him that Sheriff Clark Millsap improperly filed his latest campaign disclosures. Once again Anderson files an ethics complaint against a Republican just days before an election… The bottom line is that Millsap’s disclosure does contain a few clerical errors and he told the press that he’ll file an amended return to correct the mistakes. It’s really no big deal and Millsap has really done nothing wrong… in the mad dash to Election Day he was just a little sloppy.

While the complaint against Millsap is just trivial and no cause for concern, Anderson may have just landed a big fish in the form of one Gena Abraham Evans… Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Anderson recently requested, under the Georgia Opens Records Act, a copy of all of Commissioner Evans e-mails that have been sent or received using her state e-mail account. I bet many of you employed by government didn’t realize all of those e-mails you send and receive at work are kept forever and can be seen by the public if someone makes an official request for them?

Now Commissioner Evans is an attractive woman… and from the content of her e-mails she led a very active romantic life prior to marrying her new husband a few weeks ago. Some of the e-mails dating as far back as 2003, are filled with sexual references and intimate conversations with her boyfriends… and some of the language is pretty explicit. I can only imagine how tough it was for her to break the news to her current hubby that all of this stuff would soon be on the evening news.

Evans holds advanced degrees and is an engineer by trade… she’s obviously a very intelligent woman… but also either dumb or naïve to have used a state e-mail account for personal intimate romantic correspondence filled with gutter language. Evans was reprimanded earlier this year by the State DOT Board because she had dated board member Mike Evans for several weeks before notifying the board… personal relationships between the DOT Commissioner and the board she serves are prohibited. Board member Mike Evans resigned his seat and he is now the new husband I referenced earlier.

It seemed that Gena Evans had dodged a bullet and was on her way to reshaping what had become a dysfunctional and inefficient Georgia Department of Transportation. However along the way she stepped on too many toes as she worked to dismantle the good old boys network, and now… whether on his own or at the prompting of some of Gena Evans’ enemies… George Anderson may have just hit one of those homeruns.

This story may get buried under the avalanche of election day news, but don’t be surprised if Gena Evans is no longer DOT Commissioner by the end of the week.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next Monday… for a complete transcript of this morning’s comments, go to NewsTalk1270.com (End of complete transcript of commentary that aired on NewsTalk AM 1270 – WYXC at 7:35 AM Monday November 3, 2008)