Democrats Likely In The Clear on Ga. Sewage Dump, Official Says

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Democrats are likely in the clear for a raw sewage dump that happened on one of the party's buses in Georgia Tuesday morning.

Bert Langley, director of compliance for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said Wednesday that "unless something comes up that we're not aware of at this point," it's the bus's owner and operator that may have to face the music for the smelly spill.

"We have verified that this was a charter bus; it was not owned by the DNC," said Langley. "Our typical posture would be that we would hold accountable the bus operator, not the client."

According to a Lawrenceville Police report, officers were called to the O'Reilly Auto Parts on Grayson Highway on Tuesday morning at about 10:40 a.m.

There, an employee told police he saw an RV associated with the Democratic National Committee stop in a turn lane in front of the store.

He said he saw someone get out of the RV and open a sewage drain, letting raw sewage spill out onto the road and into a storm drain.

An officer wrote that he saw drying toilet paper and that there was a foul smell where the RV had parked.

Langley said his office plans to speak with the charter company to see if things, in fact, happened that way.

"We're not pointing any fingers yet," he said. "(But) if things occurred the way they appear they occurred, we would treat that as a violation of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act by somebody that should know a whole lot better than that."

Typically, being found in violation of the act would come with a monetary penalty, depending on the magnitude of the spill, Langley said.

On Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee issued a statement apologizing for the spill.

"This was an honest mistake and we apologize to the Lawrenceville community for any harm we may have caused," the statement reads. "We were unaware of any possible violations and have already taken corrective action with the charter bus company to prevent this from happening again."