FORSYTH — Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday questioned the timing of FBI inquiries into the state’s beleaguered ethics commission but said he was confident his office was not the target of the probe.
The governor’s comments were in response to news that five current and former state ethics officials at the center of the commission’s 2010 inquiry into Deal’s campaign have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.
Deal said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News that no one in his office has been contacted by federal agents, which he said leads him to believe the investigation centers on current or former staffers of the ethics agency.
“I want them to investigate everything they want to,” he said before an event here. “If documents are missing, if we’ve got copies of those documents, I’ll provide them again.”
He also raised questions about the timing of the inquiry, which comes as he faces a heated re-election bid against two Republican rivals and a Democratic challenger, state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Atlanta.
“I don’t think it’s coincidental in the timing. I don’t know that for sure, but I don’t know why it’s happening now,” he said. “There’s been a lot of time since the 2010 election cycle, and this all relates to that.”
Deal attorney Randy Evans said he’s confident the governor is not the target of the investigation and that his office has not received any subpoenas or even a phone call from an investigator. Analysts said these types of inquiries generally begin on the periphery before possibly moving toward a potential target.
“If a source says there is some sort of cover-up, the government normally subpoenas the investigative file and all the internal communications for the ethics committee,” said Bill Salinski, a retired Internal Revenue Service investigator who now heads the Financial Investigation Consultants firm.
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