State Ethics Commission hands-down record fine

The Georgia Association of Realtors has accepted the largest ethics fine in state history.

The fine of $80,000 was negotiated and signed-off-on by the State Ethics Commission Thursday. It stands as the largest penalty ever given by the Commission.

The Commission’s executive secretary, Rick Thompson, says the levy is the end of an investigation of campaign contributions not reported by the Realtors Association for most of 2006, totaling around $585,000.

Unreported contributions by the Realtors Association included a sum given to a so-called "independent committee" said to be connected to Casey Cagle and his 2006 run for Lieutenant Governor. Cagle’s campaign denies a direct connection to the group.

By state law, groups can set-up independent committees to back a candidate, as long as they don’t coordinate with the candidate.

In all, the State Ethics Commission's business on Thursday included issuing over $180,000 in combined fines to various group. That stands as a record.

Realtors group faces record fine

The Georgia Association of Realtors might have to pay a record fine for breaking state ethics rules. The lobbying group failed to send in disclosure reports for more than 400-thousand dollars in campaign contributions to candidates in last year's election. It donated thousands of dollars to top state lawmakers, including Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle.

Bob Hamilton, the director of the Georgia Association of Realtors, says he found out only recently that his group violated state ethics laws.

"The person on the staff who was directly responsible for those reports came to me about a month ago. She had in her hand a letter from the ethics commission stating that an investigation had been opened because we had not filed the report".

Hamilton says the employee was fired. According to state law, the ethics commission could fine the group up to 100-thousand dollars for the violation. The realtors hope a hearing before a judge will reduce that amount.