DeKalb Ethics Board Member Resigns Following Outburst at Meeting

With five DeKalb County commissioners facing some sort of ethics charge, the county’s board of ethics will be short one member after Robert Blackman tendered his resignation on Thursday.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Blackman told ex-Commissioner Elaine Boyer’s chief of staff Bob Lundsten to meet him outside during an argument the two were having at a Tuesday meeting. The AJC reports that the bad blood between the two county employees stems to a complaint filed by Lundsten accusing Board of Ethics Chairman John Ernst of not being impartial in the wake of the Elaine Boyer theft scandal.

Lundsten is facing ethics charges for allegedly misusing county funds in a similar manner to his former boss, who has since pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. During a December Board of Ethics hearing, Lundsten claims Blackman called him “slick.” Lundsten has filed an ethics complaint against Ernst over comments comparing dishonest government employees to termintes, the AJC said.

During the Tuesday meeting, Blackman said he never called Lundsten a name, which prompted Lundsten to call Blackman a “lying son of a (expletive),”the AJC said. This remark caused Blackman to suggest the two settle their differences outside.

Blackman was placed on administrative leave after the meeting, but resigned on Thursday. Ernst told the AJC that he hopes interim CEO Lee May quickly appoints a replacement for Blackman.