Georgia attorney general calls for GBI to investigate former Atlanta mayor's press office

The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 13th 2018

ATLANTA

The Georgia attorney general's office has asked for an investigation into a report that the press office of Atlanta's former mayor obstructed requests made under the state's open records law.

Katie Byrd, spokeswoman for the office of Attorney General Chris Carr, confirmed in an email Tuesday that the office had referred the matter to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

WSB-TV in Atlanta reported last week that a string of text messages showed an Atlanta city spokeswoman in 2017 advised a city official to be "as unhelpful as possible" in responding to a request from the television station for public records. The spokeswoman also advised the official to "drag this out" as long as possible and to provide information in the most confusing format available.

Kasim Reed was Atlanta's mayor at the time.

WSB-TV had requested public records in 2017 for a story that eventually revealed that several city council members had failed to fully pay their water bills. The group included Keisha Lance Bottoms, who was then launching her successful mayoral bid.

Garland, who no longer works for the city, declined to comment to WSB.

Current city spokeswoman Anne Torres said in a Friday statement to The Associated Press that "all employees are expected to follow the letter and spirit of the Georgia Open Records Act."

The law states that "frustrating or attempting to frustrate the access to records by intentionally making records difficult to obtain or review" is illegal.

There's a "good argument" that a conspiracy to violate the law could result in up to a year in jail, said Clark D. Cunningham, a professor of law and ethics at Georgia State University.

"It would be appropriate for those people to be prosecuted. Otherwise, where's the deterrent?" he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.