DA Smith: No decision made on Pendergrass

DA BRAD SMITH

DA Smith: No decision made on Pendergrass

Wednesday, August 12. 2009

District Attorney Brad Smith said Monday that he has not reviewed all of the evidence from a group of whistleblowers alleging corruption by Pendergrass officials. Smith said he had made no decision on whether or not he will take any action to investigate the matter.

Nancy Val Preda, attorney for the three whistleblowers, said she took some of the evidence her clients had gathered to Smith in July, but no action was taken.

“They presented some stuff to me and then I read in the paper a bunch of stuff I had never seen,” Smith said. “I’ve got a call into Mrs. Val Preda, but right now I am working on a murder case in Barrow County.”

Among the allegations from the whistleblowers are that city administrator Rob Russell knowingly misused SPLOST money, used the city credit card for personal items, participated in ticket-fixing and misappropriated other city funds. They presented copies of city paperwork and tape recordings to back up their claims.

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#1 Interested citizen on 08/12/09 at 01:19 PM [Reply]

Why is the DA dragging his feet? How long does it take to call the GBI?

#2 ACTION NOW! on 08/12/09 at 02:43 PM [Reply]

If the D.A. is not interested in the whole Pendergrass corruption issue then lets elect a D.A. that is interested. Is Mr. Smith the only lawyer in the whole piedmont circuit? Is it possible to have another lawyer in the office begin the investigation? Or at least call the GBI for Mr. Smith? After speaking to local residents of Jackson County I get the sense that the people want action into the pendergrass issue now. I say if no action comes soon then we the people take action at the ballot box vote the D.A. into the unemployment line! Mr. D.A. are you not capable of multi tasking? You have heard of the peter principle....right...have you reached your level of incompetence?

#2.1 Read the article on 08/12/09 at 03:13 PM [Reply]

If you read the article, you will see that Ms. Val Preda took "some of the evidence" to the D.A. but took it all to the press. Investigations can't be started just on the words of disgruntled employees. Remember the Jefferson investigation that went on forever and found nothing. I think there should be an investigation, and I trust the D.A. will make a sober and reasoned decision on what to do once he has all of the evidence.

#2.1.1 Concerned on 08/12/09 at 03:33 PM [Reply]

Except that the way you "get the evidence" is to do an investigation. As soon as the allegations were brought to the D.A.'s attention, he should have called in the GBI for an investigation. Perhaps the close ties that D.A. Smith has with the law partners of Rob Russell have clouded his judgement.

#2.1.1.1 Get real on 08/13/09 at 10:17 AM [Reply]

If you know so much about being D.A., maybe you should run. It doesn't sound like you think trying a murder case is very important, though. If you were the victim's family, you might think that your case takes priority over some non-violent ticket-fixing allegations by a private attorney representing plaintiffs in an employment dispute.

#2.1.1.2 Mudslinging idiot on 08/13/09 at 10:22 AM [Reply]

Rob Russell's only law partner is Bryan Hickey. What ties does the D.A. have to Hickey? Do they even know each other? Or are you just posting without having a gd idea what you're talking about?

#2.1.1.2.1 Mudslinging idiot on 08/13/09 at 12:05 PM [Reply]

Russell used to be in the law firm of Tolbert, Bradford and Associates. Same law firm as the Pendergrass judge and prosecutor, who all heavily supported DA Smith in the last election financially and otherwise.

#2.1.1.2.1.1 Mudslinging idiot on 08/13/09 at 12:49 PM [Reply]

So? Lots of people gave him money--it's part of the democratic process. It may reflect a dislike of the opponent more than a relationship with Smith. Val Preda seems to admit that she didn't give him all of the evidence. You might be giving him less than a month to review the materials provided. Unlike newspapers and Fox, the DA is accountable to the voters and is understandably cautious. It seems to me that Val Preda and her clients (who in law enforcement doesn't know that Pendergrass hires the dregs of the policing community) were extremely eager to get on the news, not that Russell and the city don't have this coming...

#2.2 Anon on 08/12/09 at 05:01 PM [Reply]

The DA can't be calling the GBI every time a disgruntled employee makes a complaint. If he did, everyone would be complaining that he's power hungry and picking on small town officials -- not to mention wasting public funds on frivolous investigations. Afterall, this very community has had complaints about past DA's doing just that sort of thing. Besides, it doesn't sound like Ms. ValPrada gave DA smith all of the allegations initially. Based on the article it sounds as if Mr. Smith has made a request of Ms. ValPreda about the additional evidence she she presented to the newspaper. The article doesn't indicate that Ms ValPreda has responded to the request. It sounds as if she may be more interested in publicity than justice. I hope an investivation is made into the actions of the pendegrass city officials, but I'm going to reserve judgement on the DA until I see what he does. Besides, it isn't really proper for a DA to comment on an investigation, so perhaps he is reserving comment until he knows more.

#2.2.1 Hypocrisy on 08/13/09 at 08:33 AM [Reply]

It is pathetic I tell you! Pathetic! You would think that people in public office and appointed positions would have the decency to do what is right. But, noooooo...instead they get selfish and look out for themselves. My god! Wake up people! Get angry! The quieter you are only gives them the "ok" to do what it is that they are doing which is using your tax money for personal use. How do you feel about that? Your hard working dollars spent on personal clothes, hotels, food, and whatever else that these jerks want to use it for. They are running that town as if it is their personal kingdom/harem! Then you have this DA. If we can even call him THAT! Who apparently ran to "end corruption". But, look at him now. He is in bed with the Tolberts. PROTECT THE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS! should have been what he ran on to get elected. Stand up people!!!!!!!!! I am a county resident and will be at the next city council meeting. I am all for splost taxes to help where it is needed, but not for this! Does anyone know when pendergrass' next city council meeting is? I drove through the Kingdom of Pendergrass and there is NOTHING posted for city council meeting. Am i Suprised? Ofcourse not. They probably hold secret meetings too! Nothing corrupt is behind that group! I've had it! When is enough, enough?

#2.2.1.1 Calm down, Donna on 08/13/09 at 04:13 PM [Reply]

In bed with the Tolberts? Because he didn't move quickly enough for some Plaintiff's attorney? Just because the Pendergrass administration are bad guys doesn't mean the whistleblowers are good guys.

#2.2.1.2 Pendergrass on 08/19/09 at 06:43 PM [Reply]

The Pendergrass City Council meets the 4th Tuesday of each month (next Tuesday, August 25) at 6:30. The outrage over this issue (criminal charges over misappropriated city and state funds)by so many people is appreciated. However, I hope that Pendergrass residents will attend the city council meeting. Please don't come and drag your anger over politics and speeding tickets to the meeting to distract and create chaos. We welcome those who want to support the mistreatment and firing of city workers who were courageous enough to stand up and speak out.

#2.2.1.2.1 Mike Buffington on 08/19/09 at 08:07 PM [Reply]

Clarification: There have been no criminal charges filed in this issue, only questions and allegations.

#2.2.2 comment 2.2 is stupid on 08/13/09 at 10:09 AM [Reply]

What was taken to the D.A. was the same information released to the media. Everything that was on the news was made available to the D.A. The media just took the time to review it all.

#2.2.2.1 Read, genius on 08/13/09 at 12:51 PM [Reply]

Val Preda said she had taken "some of the evidence." It's there in the paper. There's no dispute that all the evidence didn't make it to the DA's office.

#2.3 DA's Race on 08/12/09 at 06:45 PM [Reply]

Sounds like some of Brad's old competition has something to say. If you didnt get elected for office, then you have to accept the fact thatthe people of this county didnt want you. Sit on the side line and let Brad do his job. He knows what he is doing. He is honest and was voted in for that reason.

#3 Ridiculous!!! on 08/12/09 at 05:30 PM [Reply]

What does it take!!! There is hard evidence of what has been going on in this town, but the DA isn't sure yet if there will be an investigation?? Maybe it's time to start going above Mr. Smith to get something done. I wonder how many DUI offenders have had their tickets fixed while he's deciding whether he should do something or not. Bye the way, did anybody see the mayor on FOX 5 the other night admitting that he allowed an illegal alien to drive city vehicles, and they even payed for the ticket he received. I don't care if he paid it back or not, he shouldn't have even been working there in the first place. And why does his mouth move so much, does he have turrets or something?

#3.1 Anon on 08/12/09 at 09:13 PM [Reply]

The article states that Ms. ValPreda only gave part of th evidence to Mr. Smith and that after seeing the other allegations in the newspaper and on the Fox5 broadcast he called her. Is it possible that we may not know the entire story? Maybe he wasn't given hard evidence when Ms. Valpreda went to see him. Is it possible he saw the new allegations in the newspaper and is trying to move on it? We should reserve judgement until we see how he actually handles things.

#3.2 Wat to go! on 08/13/09 at 05:05 AM [Reply]

Very nice! Make fun of a person! He is one of GOD's children too. But you must be physicaly perfect in every way.

#4 Disgusted on 08/13/09 at 11:36 AM [Reply]

What's wrong with some of you people? Are you idiots? Have you not been seeing the news? Apparently there are numerous pieces of hard evidence showing activity that Brad Smith could have immediately turned over to the GBI for investigation. We've already been told that there are many documents and audio tapes. Are you really silly enough to think Valpreda needed to drop EVERYTHING on the DA up front? Anything Smith had was more than enough for a start, and Valpreda must have told him that there was still more for the GBI when he was ready to call for it.

Did any of you read the Jackson Harold and see how much money the Tolberts contributed to Smith's election? Wake up! It's my guess that Smith hopped on his phone to tip off his buddy Scott Tolbert the minute Valpreda walked out of the door. We may never know, but apparently he sat and did nothing while evidence was being destroyed.

It appears that the whistleblowers did exactly what they should have done. They showed their good faith by going first to the Mayor, assuming that he was honest. Being disappointed there they went to DA Brad Smith, assuming he was both competent and honest.

After that, what more could they do? If they stopped there they were trapped and the bad guys could, and would, utterly destroy them. Do you seriously think they wanted to be splashed into the media like that? Get Real!

Now we can see that Mike Buffington and his Jackson Harold have contributed far more for the county to start getting this horrible mess cleaned up than any of those who have the legal responsibilti to do it.

There's much more to come, so let's hope that Mike keeps hammering them until every last rat is "out from under the barn".

And before some of you start pounding your keyboards with more of your anti-cop hate, I want it known that, like most of you, I am only expressing my opinion as a citizen, and I have never been associated with any law enforcement organization, or any newspaper. As far as I know, I've never seen Mr. Mike Buffington, even from a distance.

#4.1 Disgusted and stupid on 08/13/09 at 12:38 PM [Reply]

"Valpreda [sic] must have told him..." How do you know what she told him? If they met with him in July...that wasn't that long ago. It seems like they were chomping at the bit to go public. Just recently, I remember a DA being pilloried because he called the GBI when he was told there was wrongdoing in the JPD. Which is it? A DA should call GBI immediately for everything or a DA should investigate before calling the GBI in? Additionally, just because there's ethical or civil wrongdoing doesn't necessarily mean there's criminal wrongdoing. I'm not sticking up for Pendergrass, but you're oversimplifying the issue and slinging mud at someone who doesn't deserve it.

#5 ENOUGH ! on 08/13/09 at 01:49 PM [Reply]

He has too build a case right unless all you idiots want the Tolberts to get away free and clear.
As is the case in Jackson county everyone wants it there way. You just don't go in guns blazing on this type a thing. Let Brad build a decent case and THEN you can chastise him.
Disgusted your allegations belong on a daily soap opera...fabricated fantasy .
My point folks is to show a tad bit of patience. Let's not forget he is not just doing cases in Jackson county. Give the man a chance !

#5.1 Enough is Right on 08/14/09 at 07:34 AM [Reply]

ENOUGH! is right. It may be entirely possible that Mr. Smith isn't commenting on everything that has occurred because it wouldn't be appropriate for him to do so. Sharing too much information can jeopardize an investigation. Could it be possible that he has every intention of bringing in the GBI but doesn't want to announce it to the folks that will be investigated? I don't know, but I have a strong suspicion that we don't know what all was said between Ms. Val Preda and the DA. Frankly I don't ever trust the press. Even if they are trying to be unbiased, they don't always have the entire story and sometimes jump to conclusions. We should wait to see how this plays out before we assume the DA is trying to protect anything other than the integrity of an investigation.

#6 JAUTRY on 08/13/09 at 11:42 PM [Reply]

I would think that, given the very public record of Tim Madison that Brad Smith would be intelligent enought to not put himself into a position to compromise himself. If not, I'm guessing that all the cells are not full! Time will tell!

#7 jackson county voter on 08/14/09 at 03:49 AM [Reply]

Brad can't investigate. The tolbert's own him.

#7.1 To_Jackson_County_Voter on 08/14/09 at 11:43 AM [Reply]

I actually know Brad and his wife quite well and can say with certainity that no one owns either of them, particularly not someone who contributed a couple of thousand dollars to a political campaign. Besides, Brad and his wife put far more of their own money into his campaign than anyone else. Brad isn't going to put his honor, his family and his commitment to the people of this circuit aside because the Tolberts or anyone else wants him to. Just because he isn't sending out press releases to the local media every time he makes a decision about an investigation doesn't mean he isn't doing the right thing. It just means he is handling things the way prosecutors are trained to handle investigations, which is to not share details that could result in a compromised investigation.

#7.2 Bill Healan on 08/14/09 at 04:45 PM [Reply]

You must have a very low opinion of yourself if you assume that tha DA can be bought for less than $3500. Get Serious. Brad is a very fine public servant. My firm made a campaign contribution to Brad. We didn't buy anything. We made a contribution to good government. Let the man do his job!

#7.2.1 Not doing his job on 08/17/09 at 07:43 AM [Reply]

The problem is that the man is NOT doing his job! When the allegations were made he should have started an investigation. The article says that Smith said he had made no decision on whether or not he will take any action to investigate the matter. How much time does it take to decide to investigate allegations of criminal actions? Why didn't he call the GBI a month ago?

#7.2.1.1 Anon on 08/17/09 at 06:50 PM [Reply]

Given the vitriolic tone of some of these posts, it appears that Mr. Smith has some political opponents who are trying to make more of this than there may actually be. The Jackson Herald is a weekly paper. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that things have transpired since the time Mr. Smith was interviewed and the article was actually published. For all we know he has already contacted the GBI. Just because it isn't written here doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Shouldn't we at least assume that the people who have been prosecuting cases for a dozen years probably know more about the protocol for bringing in agencies like the GBI than those with limited to no experience with the criminal justice system (i.e, the vast majority of us). The article states that he did actually contact Ms. ValPreda after he saw the first article because (according to the article) she had given him only some of the information. Maybe what she had given him wasn't actually criminal (there is a civil side to the law that falls outside of the the DA's jurisdiction.) That he contacted her would seem to indicate that he is interested in finding out more based on what he read in the paper. Perhaps we should all take a deep breath and see what actually happens. Besides, nothing productive comes from the name calling and mudslinging that seems to have carried over from a very nasty campaign for the DA's position last year.

#8 Barrow citizen on 08/14/09 at 03:12 PM [Reply]

Remember it was brought out in the election for DA that Smith had ties to Tim Madison. Seems some of that is coming home to roost now that DA Smith doesn't seem to interested in investigating his political contributors.

#8.1 Barrow Citizen on 08/17/09 at 10:20 AM [Reply]

Wasn't Smith one of the ones who helped Madison spend all that victim money going on trips and Braves games and hockey games and white water rafting and skiing and sailing lessons??? Maybe Smith doesn't think there is anything wrong with what was supposedly being done with Pendergrass money.

#9 To Barrow Citizen on 08/17/09 at 11:23 AM [Reply]

The GBI found no wrongdoing on Mr. Smith's part, or any other employee of Mr. Madison's other than the ones they prosecuted. Did they not investigate to your standards? Mr. Madison was bad, but while he was busy taking vacations and not showing up to work, his staff was actually pretty effective.

#10 Citizen on 08/17/09 at 07:02 PM [Reply]

Did I miss something? Why are so many people being so incredibly nasty? There is nothing wrong with voicing your displeasure that he may not be moving fast enough for your taste, but why does it have to be done so rudely? If we sit back and rationally look at what the article says, it doesn't actually state anywhere that DA Smith isn't going to investigate. It simply states that at the time he was interviewed he had not yet made a decision. According tho the paper he has contacted Ms. Val Preda for additional information. That sounds like the beginning of an investigation to me.

#11 outside obsever looking in on 08/28/09 at 03:49 PM [Reply]

Over in South Carolina ,there is Mark Sanford...and of course SLED,,,which found no wrong doing,,,,and then there is the same thing happening in Georgia...Has the Southern states gone.... south,,,,or (A S Hank Williams would say)is this a Republician Family Tradition!!

#12 Two years later and nothing from DA Smith on 06/24/11 at 10:40 AM [Reply]

It has now been two years. When is our DA going to make a decision?

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