Milton official sues filer of ethics complaint

A Milton official who was found to have committed ethics violations last year is seeking to have the decision reversed and has filed a lawsuit against the resident who made the ethics complaint.

Councilman Paul Moore is asking the Fulton County Superior Court to review and reverse findings of the Milton ethics panel. The lawsuit also seeks financial compensation for attorney’s fees spent during the panel investigation.

Moore’s appeal says that the Milton ethics panel erred in its decision that he had a conflict of interest when he participated in a discussion during a City Council meeting last spring. He spent more than $5,000 on legal fees, he says.

Resident Tony Palazzo filed the ethics complaint against Moore and says the councilman’s lawsuit discourages citizens from speaking out against elected officials.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have expected this is where we would be ... sued after Councilman Moore losing in the ethics hearing,” Palazzo said. “I don’t regret doing it.”

Moore did not return a call to The Atlanta Journal-constitution, and his attorney Doug Chalmers declined to comment.

Moore and Palazzo both reside in White Columns subdivision. The problem between them arose last spring when Moore did not remove himself from a City Council discussion on partially reimbursing White Columns homeowners’ association $6,800 for the cost of controversial speed radar signs that had been installed in the neighborhood.

Following last year’s decision that Moore violated municipal and city code of ethics, the ethics panel recommended that City Council issue a written reprimand. But Mayor Peyton Jamison and fellow council members voted to take no action and agreed that Moore had been “sufficiently sanctioned” already.