Fresh Loaf

Ethics watchdog George Anderson, the Peach State’s most well-known rabble-rouser, has filed another lawsuit against Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford.

Among other accusations, Anderson alleges in the July 16 filing that Bedford, a colorful character who’s made headlines in the past, has misdirected fees commonly referred to as “contempt of court” fines.

The ethics watchdog alleges Bedford has solicited charitable contributions from courtroom spectators whose cell phones rang during trials. Anderson alleges Bedford recommends they contribute to the Brandon Foundation, a charity managed by his wife and daughters. Normally, fines for violations go to the Circuit Clerk’s office.

In February, Bedford said he’d never specified to which charities cell-phone scofflaws could contribute. He told the AJC in February that Anderson’s allegations damage the Brandon Foundation, which Bedford’s daughter says helps young cancer patients pay transportation costs for treatment.

If all this sounds familiar, it’s because Anderson made similar allegations against Bedford last October with the Judicial Qualifications Commission. He says the commission still hasn’t sufficiently followed through on that complaint. CL covered the October filing, which was one of the more bizarre press conferences we’ve ever attended.

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Last night saw an unusual event go down in East Atlanta’s Martha Brown church when two Fulton County Superior Court judges met with neighbors concerned about crime to discuss their sentencing philosophy when it comes to serial burglars.

They've got a name for people like you. That name is called "recidivism." Repeat offender!

The meeting was called after Sylvan Hills resident Monica McAfee wrote Judge Alford Dempsey a letter asking why he’d sent chronic perp Johnny Dennard, a nine-time loser with six prior burglary convictions, to a drug treatment program instead of hard time in a state prison.

Dempsey, who was accompanied by Chief Judge Doris Down, explained that he saw McAfee’s letter and similar expressions of outrage from neighbors as an opportunity for greater understanding – what Oprah Winfrey might call a “teaching moment.”

It’s not often that judges come into the community to explain their methodology in dealing with criminals, but these are desperate times. Atlanta homeowners victimized by crime are mad as hell at what they perceive as lapses by the public systems – the cops, the prosecutors, the courts, the prisons, etc. – that are supposed to protect them from the bad guys.

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Dynegy, a Texas-based energy company that proposed what would’ve been Georgia’s first new coal power plant in 20 years, announced today that it has pulled out of the project.

From a company press release:

Dynegy Inc. (NYSE:DYN) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with LS Power Associates, L.P. to dissolve the two companies’ development joint venture. Under the terms of the dissolution, Dynegy will acquire exclusive rights, ownership and developmental control of all repowering or expansion opportunities related to its existing portfolio of operating assets. LS Power will acquire full ownership and developmental rights associated with various “greenfield” projects under consideration in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan and Nevada, as well as other power generation and transmission development projects not related to Dynegy’s existing operating portfolio of assets.

The reason?

“The development landscape has changed significantly since we agreed to enter into the development joint venture with LS Power in the fall of 2006,” said Bruce A. Williamson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dynegy Inc. “Today, the development of new generation is increasingly marked by barriers to entry including external credit and regulatory factors that make development much more uncertain. In light of these market circumstances, Dynegy has elected to focus development activities and investments around our own portfolio where we control the option to develop and can manage the costs being incurred more closely.”

Or, in English: These plants are damn hard to finance and risky at a time when federal carbon legislation seems increasingly likely.

The proposed Early County plant — called Plant Longleaf — generated national headlines this summer when a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that the state Environmental Protection Division needed to take carbon emissions into account during the permitting process. That ruling — the first of its kind in the United States — was appealed by Dynegy. A company spokesman told CL that LS Power, the energy company’s partner in the Early County project, is now in control of Plant Longleaf’s development. An LS Power spokesperson was not available for comment. We’ll update when we hear word.

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OK, last Friday I ran a blog post that accused Keisha Lance Bottoms of distributing false and misleading information in her campaign to unseat Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford, whom we affectionately call T-Jack.

However, Bedford is quite miffed at my reference to him “chaining Fulton DA Paul Howard to a radiator.” I just received a missive in which he calls my description of the 2006 incident “the most absurd and egregious of any I have heard from any source.”

Bedford goes on to state that his courtroom does not even contain a radiator and invites me to check for myself.

I believe him. Fact is, I intended the radiator remark as edgy humor. There’s a rich, tawdry history of children and adults being chained to radiators in works of fiction – most recently, Black Snake Moan – and in real life. I assumed folks would realize I was kidding in a “Daily Show” sort of way. And if they clicked on the phrase in question, they would have been linked to another blog post about Paul Howard’s statement that he still bears a grudge over being handcuffed, forcibly removed from Bedford’s courtroom and placed in a holding cell.

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I’ve been surprised by the unprecedented level of interest in the Fulton County Superior Court race between incumbent Judge T. Jackson Bedford and his challenger, Atlanta Magistrate Court Judge Keisha Lance Bottoms. Normally, judicial races attract little attention from the public and the news media, but this one is different, probably because some of T-Jack’s actions – such as chaining Fulton DA Paul Howard to a radiator – have brought him a measure of notoriety.

We sort of wussed out in our Voter Guide description of the race by not taking a definite stand:

We aren’t convinced Bottoms has the necessary legal background to replace Bedford, but we’re concerned about his temperament.

But now I have to say I’m concerned about the tone Bottoms’ campaign has taken. Her latest flier reads like a political hit piece on Bedford and contains some dubious claims. First off, she claims T-Jack is “under investigation for ethics violations,” and she cites your friends here at CL. Unfortunately, this statement isn’t true and we didn’t say it. What my colleague Thomas reported was that an ethics complaint had been filed against Bedford by political instigator George Anderson, whose track record with ethics filings is long and shaky. There’s a big difference between a complaint and an investigation, and an attorney like Bottoms should know it. What her flier says is patently false.

Another spurious, CL-related claim on the flier is that Bedford “allows underage strippers,” citing an article I wrote in July. This statement is misleading. Last fall, the Atlanta City Council passed an ordinance aimed at stopping women under the age of 21 from working in strip clubs. But the way the measure was written, it bars anyone under 21 from entering a nightclub for any reason – including bar workers, janitors and even members of bands booked to play there.

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Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard — who as you may recall was ordered handcuffed during a trial by Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford — says that contrary to a recent piece in the Fulton County Daily Report, he and the controversial judge haven’t exactly made up and become best buds.

The DA’s office sent the following message to the Superior Court today. (It was also posted in our comments):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 30, 2008

Statement from District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr.

Refutes Claim of Reconciliation with Judge T. Jackson Bedford, Jr.

On Tuesday, October 28, 2008, The Daily Report published a story about the judicial election between Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford, Jr. and his opponent, Magistrate Judge Keisha Lance Bottoms. As part of the story, the newspaper report quoted Judge Bedford as saying, “Howard and I have shaken hands and have spoken since then. We’re fine.”

Since my election as District Attorney, I have refrained from participating in judicial elections involving incumbent judges. National Prosecution Standards require prosecutors to avoid any activities which may appear to conflict with the duties and responsibilities of the prosecutor’s office. My belief is that involvement in incumbent judge elections is one such activity. That position notwithstanding, the statement made by Judge Bedford demands clarification. We have not shaken hands and resolved this matter. We are not fine.

I regard Judge Bedford’s treatment of me and the office I represent during this incident as one of the most sinister, ignominious and personally painful actions that I have witnessed or experienced as a lawyer and as a person. I believe that illegally limiting or curtailing the freedom of any citizen violates one of the highest protections guaranteed by the Constitution and our system of laws.

I stand strongly behind the findings of independent special prosecutor Danny Craig, who, incidentally, is now a judge in the Augusta Judicial Circuit, that Judge Bedford’s actions constituted “an unlawful arrest”.

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Atlanta’s legal community is watching with great interest the spirited race between Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson “T-Jack” Bedford and challenger, Atlanta Magistrate Court Judge Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Nobody does polling in judicial contests, so it’s impossible to know exactly how tight the race is with five days to go before the Nov. 4 election. But we hear talk that T-Jack is worried about his re-election chances. This past Sunday, Bedford was spotted making the rounds at African American churches in South Atlanta looking to shore up his support.

Bedford is white; Bottoms is black. So, for that matter, is Fulton D.A. Paul Howard, who was handcuffed by deputies on Bedford’s orders a couple years back during a courtroom disagreement.

That incident, in addition to some criticized rulings, has made Bedford a figure of controversy – not a good position for any judge. But Bottoms has spent most of her efforts attacking T-Jack for carrying a huge backlog of cases — meaning cases assigned to Bedford that he hasn’t heard yet.

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OBJECTION George Anderson files his ethics complaint

Controversial Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford is the latest public official to get slapped with an ethics complaint by George Anderson, a government watchdog who’s always game for spelunking into the Open Records abyss.

On Friday, Anderson, the executive director of Ethics in Government Group, requested the State Ethics Commission and the Judicial Qualifications Commission investigate allegations against Bedford, the jurist who’s presided over such cases as the lawsuit about the Piedmont Park parking deck and the 2007 Terry Williams murder in Little Five Points. (My esteemed colleague Scott Henry touched upon the jurist’s Orwellian campaign slogan this morning. His opponent in the general election is Atlanta Magistrate Judge Keisha Lance Bottoms.)

Anderson alleges Bedford has misused “contempt of court” fines doled out to courtroom guests whose cell phones go off, speak out of turn, or conduct themselves in an unbecoming fashion. He wants the JQC to investigate whether the judge has misdirected fine payments to the Atlanta Santa Project, a charity Bedford founded and whose public service has been widely noted. Other allegations include not fully disclosing his campaign expenses and discussing pending cases outside the courtroom.

According to the minutes from a July 2008 NPU-F meeting that Bedford attended, he discussed the Terry Williams murder case. Members of the group who were interviewed by CL also said Bedford mentioned the case. (The judge was unavailable for comment on Friday.)

Now, here’s where this whole damn thing gets bizarre…

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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I have to say that the first time I saw a campaign sign for Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr., it kind of creeped me out. His tag-line is “Re-elect YOUR JUDGE.” OK, I live in Fulton, and he’s on the county’s highest bench, so I guess he’s my judge, but isn’t there another way to word that?

I suppose it’s marginally better than “I want to be YOUR JUDGE” and a significant improvement over “Give me the opportunity to JUDGE YOU,” but Judge Bedford — whom we at CL affectionately call T-Jack — has chosen a campaign slogan with an arguably Big-Brotherly ring to it.

Slogans aside, Bedford is in an unusual position for a Superior Court judge in that he’s facing a serious challenge for re-election. His opponent, Atlanta Magistrate Court Judge Keisha Lance Bottoms, is mounting a highly visible campaign that seeks to bring attention to some of the controversies surrounding T-Jack.

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Jim Powell’s appeal has been scheduled for Monday, Aug. 4 at 3 p.m. in Fulton County Superior Court.

The Public Service Commission candidate was thrown off the July 15 primary ballot in an eleventh-hour disqualification Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, who overruled a decision by an administrative law judge that deemed he met residency requirements. A Fulton County Superior Court judge granted him a stay and he managed to pull in 85 percent of the votes in his race against Bob Indech. (Click here to view CL’s rundown of the events.)

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A Fulton County Superior Court judge yesterday ruled in favor of the Atlanta Botanical Garden in its case against Friends of Piedmont Park, the nonprofit citizens’ group that fought a parking deck in the city’s iconic Midtown greenspace.

Judge T. Jackson Bedford determined two of the four claims filed by the garden against the group were “without merit” and ordered lawyers from the two sides to assess damages in the next two weeks.

The garden initially sought $290,000 in damages they say were incurred because of the contentious legal fight that erupted in 2005 when it announced plans for a 800-space parking deck inside the park. Friends of Piedmont Park and other neighborhood activists fought the project on the argument that a taxpayer-funded public space should not gift property to a private nonprofit organization without public engagement and input. The bitter dispute raged both in court documents and yard signs and divided nearby residents and the city at large.

The Atlanta City Council voted for the deck and Mayor Shirley Franklin signed its legislation later that year. The deck is scheduled to open in May and according to Mary Pat Matheson, the garden’s executive director, it will be virtually unseen, grant more access to the park, and potentially boast LEED-certification.

Matheson says she is “obviously very pleased” with Bedford’s ruling. Doug Abramson of Friends of Piedmont Park declined comment.

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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore has reversed a ruling that would’ve allowed the first coal power plant in the state in 20 years to be built in Early County, putting the brakes on the idea. The case now goes back to a lower court for a hearing.

Click here to read the judge’s ruling.

More details to come. A spokesperson for Dynegy, one of the companies building the plant, said he had not yet seen the ruling. GreenLaw, the environmental law firm who helped fight the plant, is expected to comment later today.

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Georgians may find out next week if they get their first new coal power plant in 20 years.

Lawyers with GreenLaw, an environmental law firm that argued against the Longleaf Plant in Early County, said Fulton County Superior Court Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore will issue a ruling between Monday and Thursday. The case examines whether the state Environmental Protection Division acted appropriately in not requiring the proposed coal plant to regulate its carbon dioxide emissions, the greenhouse gas scientists say is concentrating in the atmosphere and causing global warming.

Dynegy Co. and LS Power, the two companies pushing the plant, say it would add to the impoverished county’s tax base and bring much-needed jobs to the area. A host of opponents and critics said most of the created jobs would be temporary construction positions and that any benefit to the county would be outweighed by the health impact of the plant’s harmful emissions. The Medical Association of Georgia issued a resolution opposing any new coal plants in the state because of their emissions’ unhealthy effects.

It’s a tough call, however. Even Moore expressed difficulty with the position in which she was placed, as she stated from the bench during the case’s June 3 hearing:

“No one can be employed if they’re falling down dying,” she said, adding that she had 19 boxes of documents sitting in the clerk’s office that she needed to examine. “We need to look at both the economy and the environment. That’s what I will do.”

Moore’s ruling could establish a precedent as well, something that Dynegy’s lawyers argued would be inappropriate were it decided by a judge rather than politicians. Should Moore rule against the plant, her court would be the first in the country to do so.

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Like breathing clean air? Don’t want to inhale toxins? You might want to keep your eyes peeled on Fulton County Superior Court tomorrow.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore will hear arguments over whether coal power plants should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant and harmful to humans. The argument stems from the state Environmental Protection Division’s decision to issue an air pollution permit to Dynegy, the nation’s largest plant builder, for its proposed plant in impoverished Early County. The 1,200-megawatt plant slated to be built on the banks of the Chattahoochee in southwest Georgia is estimated to emit 9 million tons of CO2 every year — the equivalent of 1.5 million cars driving 12,000 miles each year.

A group of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Friends of the Chattahoochee are fighting the plant. GreenLaw, an Atlanta-based environmental law firm, is arguing the case. The judge’s ruling — which is expected within 30 days of the hearing — could halt or suspend the plant’s construction.

The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. at at the Fulton County Superior Court located at 185 Central Avenue, Atlanta, GA.

For more information about the case, click here.

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