'Racist Pig' Commissioner's Lawyer Calls Ethics Panel 'A Political Lynching'

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — The lawyer for a Gwinnett commissioner who called civil rights icon John Lewis a "racist pig" has penned a letter calling the ethics investigation into his client's actions "a political lynching."

Commissioner Tommy Hunter's January Facebook post went on to insult Democrats like Lewis, calling them idiots and "Demonrats." An ethics board appointed to consider a citizen's complaint about Hunter's actions held its final hearing on Wednesday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Dwight Thomas, a lawyer for Hunter, sent a letter to Superior Court Judge Melodie Snell Conner asking for a hearing on a lawsuit that Hunter filed challenging the ethics board's constitutionality.

"The Mob, masquerading as an Ethics Board, was able to get a rope around my client’s neck and put him in the saddle," Thomas wrote. "However, the hangman has not given the signal to spank the horse so my client can be politically lynched. My client turned to the Court System seeking emergency relief but justice was somewhere hiding in the bushes not willing to step forward and stop the hanging."

The letter continued: "I humbly await your response and look forward to my client’s day in a real court of law and not a star chambered kangaroo posse hanging."

In January, Lewis, a U.S. Congressman who represents Atlanta, was embroiled in a political back-and-forth with President Donald Trump. Lewis said he didn't view Trump as "a legitimate president," in part because he believed Russian interference helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

Trump fired back on Twitter, saying Lewis "should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to...... mention crime infested)." The tweet called Lewis "All talk, talk, talk - no action or results."

Lewis is widely known to have been one of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s top lieutenants during the height of the civil rights movement and was beaten and jailed multiple times for his activism.

In his Facebook posts, Hunter — a Republican who narrowly won re-election in November and whose district does not overlap with Lewis's — called Lewis's political victories "illegitimate," saying his district is carved out to keep him in office.

All of Georgia's Congressional districts are drawn by the Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly.

Since January, crowds have been attending Gwinnett Board of Commissioners meetings, calling on Hunter to apologize and resign. Hunter offered a qualified apology at the first meeting after his posts became public, saying he was sorry for his "choice of words."

According to county ordinance, Hunter should occupy a seat on the ethics panel looking into the complaint against him. But he has refused to take part and, on Wednesday, declined to answer any questions at a hearing.

The most severe punishment the ethics panel could hand down in the case would be a public reprimand.

Photo courtesy Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners