Georgia Republican gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal is facing fresh allegations he used his former congressional office to help his family’s auto salvage business.
According to a Tuesday evening report from Atlanta’s Fox affiliate WAGA-TV, Deal's former chief of staff, Chris Riley, used his congressional e-mail accounts to lobby Hall County officials to take over a private road that ran next to Deal’s business and several other private businesses. Deal also asked for the space at the end of the road to be rezoned and turned into a landfill.
According to a Tuesday evening report from Atlanta’s Fox affiliate WAGA-TV, Deal's former chief of staff, Chris Riley, used his congressional e-mail accounts to lobby Hall County officials to take over a private road that ran next to Deal’s business and several other private businesses. Deal also asked for the space at the end of the road to be rezoned and turned into a landfill.
Deal, who resigned in March to focus on his campaign for governor, already faced a congressional ethics investigation into whether he used his position in Congress to push for benefits for the salvage business. A March report from the Office of Congressional Ethics found that “Deal took active steps to preserve a purely state program, one that had generated financial benefit for Representative Deal and his business partner.” Deal’s campaign has repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a politically motivated.
But Deal won his party’s primary for governor despite the investigation, emerging from a crowded GOP primary and narrowly edging former Secretary of State Karen Handel in their August runoff. He’s now in a competitive general election race against former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who is looking to reclaim the governor’s mansion after being ousted by current GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2002.
The new Fox report revealed e-mails from Riley's congressional account sent during the workday from his congressional account, in which the proposed project is discussed andtalk about to meetings on the project. House ethics rules prohibit government equipment from being used for outside employment or business purposes.
Deal’s attorney, Randy Evans, told WAGA that no specific action was asked for in the e-mails, that Riley was only assembling information on the project and that the project benefited constituents.
"We knew Nathan Deal was one of the 'Most Corrupt Members of Congress.’ But now we've learned of another instance where Rep. Deal has illegally used his congressional office and staff to influence local officials - this time for the financial gain of his landfill business,” Barnes spokesman, Emil Runge, wrote in a statement.
After a Tuesday night debate, Deal avoided questions from reporters, who followed him out of the site. The Deal campaign did not respond to a request for comment from POLITICO on the new allegations.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Deal's auto salvage business was a family business. The salvage business is owned by Deal and a business partner.
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/1010/43558.html
But Deal won his party’s primary for governor despite the investigation, emerging from a crowded GOP primary and narrowly edging former Secretary of State Karen Handel in their August runoff. He’s now in a competitive general election race against former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who is looking to reclaim the governor’s mansion after being ousted by current GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue in 2002.
The new Fox report revealed e-mails from Riley's congressional account sent during the workday from his congressional account, in which the proposed project is discussed andtalk about to meetings on the project. House ethics rules prohibit government equipment from being used for outside employment or business purposes.
Deal’s attorney, Randy Evans, told WAGA that no specific action was asked for in the e-mails, that Riley was only assembling information on the project and that the project benefited constituents.
"We knew Nathan Deal was one of the 'Most Corrupt Members of Congress.’ But now we've learned of another instance where Rep. Deal has illegally used his congressional office and staff to influence local officials - this time for the financial gain of his landfill business,” Barnes spokesman, Emil Runge, wrote in a statement.
After a Tuesday night debate, Deal avoided questions from reporters, who followed him out of the site. The Deal campaign did not respond to a request for comment from POLITICO on the new allegations.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Deal's auto salvage business was a family business. The salvage business is owned by Deal and a business partner.
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/1010/43558.html