Shady deals are Gov. Nathan Deal's operating norm. Rampant corruption and abuse of power

Gov. Nathan Deal has perfected the political dark art of making shady deals, abusing his power, and keeping his fingerprints off of everything -- all the while presenting an image to the public of this grandfatherly, dull as dirt drone whose speeches could put an ADD child to sleep.

Does this all add up to corruption?   I think it does.    First, his multiple run-ins with ethics commissions.  He resigned from Congress just as the House Ethics Committee was getting close in its investigation.   Then he incurred several more ethical charges during his 2010 campaign for governor.    Once he was in office, he squashed those by getting rid of the two top administrators of the Georgia ethics committee, intimidating his hand-picked replacement in the process.    That is abuse of power.  Then he got off without being exposed in a public nearing and received only a negotiated, wrist-slap fine for technical filing errors.

Then his shady financial deals.  Remember his being on the verge of bankruptcy during the campaign because he had backed his daughter and son-in-law's business, which then failed, leaving him stuck with the debts..  He was going to have to sell his home.   It was an embarrassing spectacle:   a governor-elect about to lose his long-owned home just as he was about to be sworn in.  

Somehow that all got taken care of.   But what favors did he then owe those who bailed him out?  It's never a good sign when a new governor is inaugurated while facing possible bankruptcy.   Someone is going to bail him out;  and then he's going to wind up owing somebody -- and then returning favors to make up for it.

Well, one he owes seems to be the Nursing Home Industry.    Right off the bat, this same son-in-law, who badly needed a job after his business failed, was given a cushy job as a lobbyist for the state nursing home association, even though he had no obvious qualifications for the job.   Deal crowed that his office had nothing to do with the hire, and that it would pose no conflict of interest, even though nursing homes get billions of dollars of state money every year for Medicaid patients.  In turn, nursing home owners are huge contributors to Deal's campaign and even moreso to the PACs that support him.   

Now the payback.   Deal has been trying to push through a sweetheart deal for nursing home owners in the form of millions of dollars of compensation for improvements.   Someone sneaked that item into the budget, which the legislature then passed.    But most senators deny knowing that it was in there when they voted on it.

Now that same issue was up before the state Department of Community Health that oversees nursing homes.   The board raised serious questions about the measure and did not vote to approve the allocation as the governor wanted (and had probably promised his wealthy donors who own nursing homes).

Two hours after the board's meeting, two of the appointed members, who opposed Deal's deal, received calls from the governor's office, telling them that they were not being reappointed for another term.

But the governor has denied that there was any connection.   Which is also par for the course.   He thinks, if he just says "no, it isn't so," that the gullible public will continue to believe him.    I don't think voters are that stupid.    The problem is that they just don't care enough be pay attention.

In Deal's deals, he knows how to manipulate and maneuver while staying just under the radar of public outrage.   But those who pay attention have got his number.   And it's only a matter of time.

Will that time come before November 4th?   Will Jason Carter and the AJC be able to get the voters' attention?   Will Holly LaBerge blow the abuse of power thing wide open, now that she's lost her job and is the only one to suffer personally from Deal's abuse of the ethics process?   Will Deal lose the election to Carter, and then the whole thing will just go away?

OMG.   It sounds like a soap opera.  Stay tuned.

Ralph