Key Points:
• Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett filed an ethics complaint against fellow Commissioner Bridget Thorne on Sept. 17.
• At issue were remarks by Thorne that Barrett said indicating she could control Fulton County GOP Registration and Elections Board nominees.
• Thorne responded by calling Barrett’s actions politically motivated.
Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett filed an ethics complaint on Sept. 17 against fellow Commissioner Bridget Thorne over a statement made about Fulton County GOP Registration and Elections Board nominees.
Thorne responded by calling the ethics complaint politically motivated.
Barrett filed the complaint with the Fulton County Board of Ethics over comments Thorne made in support of the GOP’s nominees, Jason Frazier and Julie Adams, during the commissioners’ Sept. 3 meeting. Barrett claimed that Thorne said she could control and direct what Frazier and Adams would do if they were appointed to the elections board.
The comments can be heard in a YouTube video starting at 4:30:56 of the commission’s Sept. 3 meeting.
The commission is in the midst of an appeal of a Fulton County judge’s order to appoint Frazier and Adams. A $10,000 daily fine for contempt was stayed until the appeal process is concluded. Though her term on the elections board has officially expired, Adams will remain in that position until an appointment is made.
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Thorne responded to the ethics complaint on Sept. 19.
“This is a politically motivated attack. Her complaint is a deliberate mischaracterization of ‘a statement’ and lacks any valid grounds for a legitimate complaint,” Thorne said in her statement.
Thorne said the complaint will harm Fulton County citizens because of litigation costs and by diverting attention from official county business.
“My decision to file the complaint was not politically motivated. My concern is for the integrity of our elections,” Barrett told Rough Draft Atlanta.
Barrett said she was shocked to hear Thorne say she would correct Adams and Frazier, and they would take that correction.
Barrett said she is bound by the code of ethics in that if she hears or sees something that goes against them, she feels she has to say something. Barrett told Rough Draft Atlanta that as soon as Thorne made the statement, she was taken aback.
Barrett’s complaint suggests that Thorne violated Section 2-68(b) of the Fulton County Code of Ethics, which states: “No officer or employee shall state or specifically imply that any person can improperly influence him or her in the performance of any official acts or actions or that the officer or employee is able to improperly influence the official acts or actions of other county officers or employees.”
Barrett’s complaint states she believes Thorne should be prohibited from voting or commenting on the nominations.
