Is this the smoking gun in the dismissal of the ethics case against Gov. Deal?

Background for this can be found in ShrinkRap posts of July 18 and 19 and especially July 25th.   It has to do with that memo written by Holly LaBerge, the memo that was withheld from the disclosure documents in Stacey Kalberman's whistleblower lawsuit.    Kalberman was forced out of her job heading the ethics commission because she was actually investigating the ethics complaints against the governor -- and getting too close to finding something.   LaBerge, who replaced Kalberman in the job, also said she felt pressured by the governor's staff to avoid a public hearing.  That's what the memo was about.

When the existence of the memo was revealed -- after Kalberman had already won her case to the tune of about $1,000,000 settlement -- Kalberman still sued to have LaBerge, the ethics commission itself, and the Attorney General's office sanctioned for failing to disclose the memo.

Why bother, since she had already won her wrongful dismissal case?    Well, there is a really good reason that was revealed in Monday's hearing of the case before Fulton County Judge Ural Glanville, who had also presided over the original Kalberman case.   If the memo had been disclosed, Kalberman and her legal team would have known about the texts and emails from Deal's staff to LaBerge, which would have also revealed that Gov. Deal had signed a letter of recommendation for LaBerge's application to the Leadership Georgia program.

Why is that important?   It is actually a "bingo" moment, because the letter of recommendation ties Deal directly to LaBerge and thus refutes his claim that he didn't even know Holly LaBerge and thus had nothing to testify about in the former whistleblower trial.

This little bit of seeming legal trivia would have allowed Kalberman's attorneys to call Deal to testify in the case.  And that could have opened up all kinds of problems for the ethically challenged governor.

Judge Glanville's comments in court yesterday indicated that he takes this very seriously.  The AJC reported that he "blistered state attorneys for withholding key evidence" in the case, saying that "it erodes the public's trust."

Judge Glanville also clarified with LaBerge her reasons for writing the memo and then putting it away in a drawer.    She had done it as "insurance," she said, to protect herself and the commission in case the governor's staff followed through on the threat that, unless she made the case against the governor "go away," he would kill the pending legislation that would restore the commission's right to write its own rules and regulations.

To me, this seems close to being a smoking gun indicating that there was something akin to quid pro quo blackmail -- certainly abuse of power -- coming directly out of the governor's office to get the ethics case against him dismissed with a minor fine for "technical filing errors."

If they ever get Deal under oath, who knows what else might be exposed?    Judge Glanville says he will rule on this case by the end of the week.

Get ready, Jason Carter.   This could be a big boost for your campaign to replace Nathan Deal.

Ralph