Complaint Review: Scott Tolbert - Jefferson Georgia

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EDITORIAL: Probe of Pendergrass needed

Posted by Mike Buffington

in

Opinions

Friday, August 14. 2009

Comments (11)

Where to begin. The allegations of

corruption in Pendergrass are so deep, so wide and so serious that it

boggles the mind to read them:

--Ticket-fixing.

--Police profiling.

--The intentional misuse of SPLOST funds.

--Abuse of credit cards for personal items by a city employee.

--The destruction of city documents to cover up a trail of unethical and possibly illegal actions by city officials.

This mess merits the quick involvement of District Attorney Brad Smith

and a full-scale investigation by the GBI, POST, Georgia Department of

Audits and other agencies charged with probing allegations of public

corruption.

Pendergrass has long had the reputation of being a corrupt little town, a

town that is run like a private kingdom. But until now, there was

little solid evidence to prove it.

Now, there’s a mountain of evidence — tape recordings, copies of city

documents, shredded documents and witnesses who have decided to come

forward and tell what they know.

We have seen much of this evidence and it’s convincing. We have talked to the witnesses and they’re convincing.

The three whistleblowers in this matter attempted to do the right thing.

They went to Pendergrass Mayor Monk Tolbert with this evidence hoping

that he would take action against city administrator Rob Russell, who is

at the center of many of the allegations.

Instead, Tolbert threw them under the bus. He fired two of them to cut

off the flow of information from city hall to the outside world.

Even more damning, the day after both city clerks were fired, thousands

of pages of city documents were shredded in what appears to have been an

effort to destroy physical evidence of city wrong-doing.

Only a full-scale investigation can get to the heart of this matter and

begin to uncover the truth about what has really been going on in

Pendergrass. The town is an embarrassment to all of Jackson County;

these latest allegations hang over all of us, not just those who live in

the town.

DA Smith is the man whose shoulders this issues now rests. But it won’t be easy for him.

Scott Tolbert, Pendergrass’ city court judge and son of the mayor, was

DA Smith’s largest campaign contributor in last year’s election.

Tolbert’s law firm gave Smith $3,450 in campaign contributions during

2008. Now, Tolbert himself stands accused by the whistleblowers of

having fixed tickets in the city.

So this is Smith’s first big test as our new DA — will he protect

political supporters, or will he step up and do the right thing for the

citizens of Jackson County?

If he can’t, or won’t do that, then the upcoming Jackson County Grand

Jury should act on its own and launch an investigation into the

Pendergrass mess.

Whistleblowers allege Pendergrass corruption

Posted by Mike Buffington

in

Misc. News, Top Stories

Wednesday, August 5. 2009

Comments (50)

THREE City of Pendergrass employees

allege that the town is rife with corruption, ticket-fixing and

favoritism, but that Mayor Monk Tolbert ignored evidence they gave him

in June of the wrongdoing and instead, fired two of them under the guise

of “budget cutting.”

On June 28, city clerk Katherine Rintoul, policeman Scott Rogers and

policeman Bill Garner, along with their attorney Nancy Val Preda, said

they met with Mayor Tolbert and gave him documentation and audio

recordings they had been gathering for weeks of what they worried could

be unethical or illegal activities by city administrator/police chief

Rob Russell.

But rather than dealing with Russell, Rintoul and Rogers were fired last

week by the mayor and council, supposedly as part of city budget cuts.

The two say, however, their dismissals were really in retribution for

their having blown the whistle on Russell.

***

MONDAY NIGHT REPORT FROM FOX5 TV: Cut and past into your browser

www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/I_Team_Pendergrass_Spending_081009

***

Among the allegations stemming from documentation and interviews with the three are:

• That Russell knowingly misappropriated city SPLOST funds from their

legal limited use to unauthorized uses, including paying city “contract”

employees, then misleading city auditors about how the money was spent.

• That Russell had extensively misused his city credit card for personal

use, including the buying of clothes, expensive steak dinners, toys,

and personal out-of-town travel. Other city funds were also misused

under Russell’s direction, they said, including paying a vet bill for a

city employee and giving a $3,000 city lawn mower to a city councilman

to “keep him happy.”

• That the police department has serious ethical problems, including

Russell having pressured city police officers to profile those who they

caught, such as to stay away from people who “drive Mercedes” because

they complain too much.

• That Russell and city court judge Scott Tolbert, son of the mayor,

routinely fixed tickets, including violations as serious as DUIs.

• That after meeting with Mayor Tolbert in June and giving him evidence

against Russell, the mayor, without city council approval, quickly

negotiated a secret settlement with a former policewoman who had a

federal lawsuit pending against the city.

• That as further proof the city is trying to hide wrong-doing, the day

after last week’s firings, Russell and others began shredding a massive

number of city documents in an effort to cover-up the town’s corruption.

For the full story on the Pendergrass whistleblowers, see the Aug. 5 issue of The Jackson Herald.