State Ethics Complaint Leads to Payment of Attorney Fees | Daily Report

A St. Marys chiropractor who filed a state ethics complaint against a liberal organization this summer is agreeing to reimburse some of the organization’s attorney fees after the ethics commission rejected his claims.

A consent order, which the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission approved on Wednesday, calls for Dr. James Burnham to pay Better Georgia’s attorney Jeremy Berry of McKenna, Long & Aldridge $500 within 15 days for filing a frivolous complaint.

Better Georgia, a left-leaning, nonprofit social welfare organization, said this is the first time that a defendant in an ethics case has been awarded attorney fees. State statute gives the ethics commission the ability to award fees but does not state specifically how much.

In his June complaint, Burnham accused Better Georgia of making political statements in emails to subscribers without properly registering as an independent committee with the ethics commission or submitting required reports to the commission.

Burnham’s attorney, Bert Guy, said Burnham “felt that Better Georgia was not complying with state election law.”

via State Ethics Complaint Leads to Payment of Attorney Fees | Daily Report.