Contractor letter sheds light on Ellis case | www.myajc.com

A DeKalb County contractor claims that the county took away its business after it refused to make campaign contributions and then awarded the work to a competitor that did make a donation, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The allegations by Power & Energy Services are contained in a letter from the company’s attorney to the county dated Feb. 14. The letter, obtained by the AJC through the Open Records Act, offers a glimpse inside the public corruption case the state is trying to build against DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, who was indicted in June and suspended from office in July. Ellis pleaded not guilty to the 15-count indictment on Monday.

Ellis’ spokesman said Ellis had nothing to do with the contractor’s county work.

Power & Energy Services, based in Austell, contends that DeKalb officials told the company it was being blackballed from receiving work under a contract it already had with the county. Power & Energy claimed that a competitor received the work that should have gone to Power & Energy and charged “substantially higher amounts,” according to the attorney’s letter.

via Contractor letter sheds light on Ellis case | www.myajc.com.