Attorney General Won't Offer Legal Opinion on Cumming Impeachment

The City of Cumming will have to go it alone should it decide to continue its impeachment proceedings against a councilman after the Georgia Attorney General declined to submit a legal opinion on the matter.

According to CBS Atlanta, Sam Olens told City Attorney Dana Miles in a Feb. 4 letter that his office could not rule on questions regarding Cumming’s local laws regarding the impeachment process or the legality of releasing sensitive information of city employees to the public. The letter added that commenting on the city’s insurance scandal, which is currently under investigation by the federal government, would be unwise.

Councilman Rupert Sexton is the target of the impeachment probe; Mayor H. Ford Gravitt claims that Sexton leaked the personal insurance information of City of Cumming employees to social media, while Sexton claims he never posted the list online and the charges against him are retribution for discovering that Gravitt’s long-time girlfriend is receiving insurance benefits despite not working for the city.

Angela Mullinax has been receiving city health insurance since 2005, when Gravitt added her to the policy for her work on behalf of city government and local businesses. Mullinax’s insurance premiums have cost Cumming taxpayers some $75,000 since 2005, a revelation which angered some residents enough that they held a protest outside City Hall last month.

Miles is also receiving city insurance benefits without officially working for the city, but told CBS Atlanta that he had an oral agreement with the city with respect to the situation.

It is not clear whether or not the impeachment panel, which is headed up by Miles, will continue investigating Sexton in light of the Attorney General’s refusal to submit an opinion, CBS Atlanta said.

Read Olens’ letter below:

Olens Letter