Ethics panel reopens probe of ex-senator

Fate of $630,000 in leftover campaign money still an issue.

The state ethics case against former longtime Georgia Senate leader Don Balfour isn’t over yet.

The ethics commission on Thursday voted 4-0 to reopen what appeared to be a dead case against Balfour a week after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported it was being dismissed by the panel’s staff, despite the fact that the ex-Gwinnett County lawmaker hadn’t reported what

happened to about $630,000 in leftover campaign money. “The reason this doesn’t feel right is because it’s not right,” said Jake Evans, chairman of the commission, who made the motion to reject the staff ’s dismissal. “I cannot agree with the administrative dismissal in this case.”

David Emadi, executive secretary of the commission, signed an order last month administratively dismissing the case because he said a loophole in campaign finance laws made it too late to investigate Balfour — who left office in 2015 — for not filing campaign disclosure reports. Those reports would have shown what happened to the leftover money, much of it collected from Statehouse lobbyists, associations and businesses with an interest in legislation.

AJC 2014 The state ethics commission voted 4-0 to reopen what appeared to be a dead case against former state Senate leader Don Balfour involving about $630,000 in leftover campaign money.