Barr: DeKalb Officials Using Taxpayer Money as 'Personal Piggy Bank'

Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr says the recent report and investigation into alleged corruption into DeKalb County government should be taken seriously and not dismissed out of hand.

“Rather than be dismissed out-of-hand as [interim DeKalb CEO Lee] May has done, the report should serve as the foundation for a far more extensive and detailed investigation by appropriate officials at the state and perhaps the federal level as well,” Barr said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Barr’s comments are the latest development in a series of crises and controversies surrounding DeKalb’s government since an investigation, conducted by former state Attorney General Mike Bowers and Richard Hyde, was released three weeks ago. It cited widespread corruption and improper spending from many elected and appointed county officials, including local commissioners Kathie Gannon and Jeff Rader, both of whom have responded to the report’s allegations.

The report also called on May to resign.

Last week, May was scheduled to attend the first of his town hall meetings -- this one in Decatur -- but decided not to attend.

Also last week, Decatur State Sen. Emanuel Jones called on May to resign.

Barr now practices law and runs a consulting firm, Liberty Strategies in Atlanta.

Here is the full text of his statement:

“As a former federal prosecutor and an eight-year member of the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, I have read with interest the recent Report prepared by former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers and Richard Hyde that investigated the quality and integrity of government officials in DeKalb County.

“ I share the concerns of this Report’s authors, and support their call for further investigation and action, in order to correct what appears to be a long-festering pattern of spending of taxpayer monies by officials in DeKalb with little or no regard for ethics or for the letter and the intent of Georgia law.

“I also am disturbed at the initial reaction to Mr. Bowers’ Report by DeKalb Interim CEO Lee May who, rather than at least agree that further investigation is called for, blasted the Report’s authors and stoutly defended his office against every fact and finding in the Report.

“This appears to reflect precisely what Mr. Bowers discovered and detailed in his Report; namely, that many officials in the County consider the monies entrusted to them by the taxpayers to be nothing more than their personal piggy bank, to be used for whatever purposes they wish, regardless of whether those expenditures bear any relationship to the authorities and responsibilities of the office they hold.

“While the specific language in federal laws as related to public officials may vary from that in Georgia law, the fundamental intent and purposes are the same – public monies are to be expended by public officials only for purposes consistent with their official duties and responsibilities; and actions undertaken by government officials cannot be tied to monies or other things of value received apart from their lawful budgets and salaries.

“The Report by Mr. Bowers should be taken seriously by DeKalb County and by our state government. Rather than be dismissed out-of-hand as Mr. May has done, the Report should serve as the foundation for a far more extensive and detailed investigation by appropriate officials at the state and perhaps the federal level as well.”