Mayoral hopeful reaches complaint agreement

Ceasar Mitchell to pay $8K to state ethics commission.

Atlanta mayoral candidate and Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell will pay fines of more than $8,000 to the state ethics commission following a year-long investigation into alleged ethics violations.

Mitchell, who entered the race to succeed Mayor Kasim Reed last April, was cited by the commission for failure to disclose between $46,000 and $93,000 in campaign expenditures and not reporting campaign debt around $8,900 owed to a campaign consultant, according to a settlement agreement.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission — otherwise known as the ethics commission — also cited Mitchell for failure to file personal financial disclosure statements on time. He also failed to register his mayoral committee before accepting campaign funds, the agreement said. His fines will total $8,375. The decision comes after the commission investigated Mitchell on eight ethics infractions he is accused of committing in his runs for council president and mayor over the past five years. They included using campaign cash to buy Atlanta Falcons tickets and failure to register his PAC, AtlantaNEXT.

The commission dismissed or found insufficient evidence in half of the violations, according to the agreement. The dismissal included $408 for Falcons tickets, which Mitchell said was reimbursement to a law firm for lobbying expenses. The commission declared that expense allowable under Georgia code.

The commission said there was insufficient evidence that Mitchell’s PAC violated registration rules. In a statement, Mitchell blamed the problems on clerical errors and promised better oversight of administrative duties.

“We have taken immediate steps in upgrading our campaign finance technology and internal administrative procedures to ensure that all reports are filed properly,” he said.