Stone Mountain Commissioner Challenges DeKalb Ethics Referedum

Image: DeKalb County website

Decatur GA -- District 4 DeKalb commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton says a voter-approved ethics board has no authority to investigate her.

Barnes has filed a lawsuit that says the newly adopted DeKalb Ethics Board is unconstitutional, according to the AJC.

The creation of the board was approved by 92 percent of DeKalb voters back in November. The county commission and CEO will no longer appoint the board’s members, who will soon be named by various community organizations. The board lost its power to suspend or remove officials from office, but it gained the ability to issue $1,000 fines.

Sutton’s attorney, Dwight Thomas, says ethics board are not allowed to judge officials’ behavior under the Georgia constitution.

A total of 10 ethics complaints have been filed against Sutton, including a charge that Sutton spent more than $1,000 in county funds on a portrait of President Barack Obama at a charity auction.

Sutton says all of her spending was related to government purposes.