This letter addresses a front page article in the May 14, 2008 issue of The Citizen newspaper.

Commission Robert Horgan suggests that I may have an “ethical issue” with a campaign contribution I received in 2006. He is referring to a $2,000 contribution from attorney Tommy Craig who was instrumental in securing the federal and state permits for Lake Horton and Lake McIntosh.

Mr. Craig is an outstanding attorney who specializes in the complicated and extraordinarily cumbersome processes involved in federal and state requirements for securing permits to construct reservoirs.

Mr. Craig was hired by the Board of Commissioners in the late 1980s when George Patton was chairman of the board. I was still serving in the U.S. Army. The board made a wise decision.

Over the years Mr. Craig has been called when necessary to overcome the intricate maze of federal and state requirements.

When I received the unsolicited contribution, Lake Horton had already been completed years before and the permitting process for Lake McIntosh was in its final stages. Fayette County can not build any more reservoirs, thus there was no anticipation that Mr. Craig’s services would be needed in the future.

More to the point, when I received the contribution, I called and discussed with Mr. Craig that according to the county ethics ordinance, which I wrote and followed precisely every day I was in office, I would never be able to discuss or vote on any business he might have or desire to have with the county in the future.

He told me he understood all that, he complimented me on my open and honest leadership of the board and said he simply wanted to see people like me remain in office.

When I accepted his contribution he understood completely that it precluded me from involving myself in any way should he ever attempt to do further business with Fayette County.

I have made an issue of Mr. Horgan’s role in the current board’s violation of Georgia’s Open Meetings Law and the board’s subsequent “cover up” of that violation.

It is unfortunate that rather than addressing the public on that serious issue, he merely attempts to side-step it with a baseless personal attack which could harm not only my reputation, but Mr. Craig’s as well.

Ironically, Mr. Horgan and the current board have recently hired Mr. Craig to do some of the routine post-permitting legal work to complete the construction of Lake McIntosh, work typically handled by our previous attorney, Bill McNally.

This is evidently necessary only because the board fired Bill McNally and hired an in-house attorney who apparently does not have the expertise to perform the legal work Mr. McNally did during the construction of lakes Kedron and Horton. But that’s a different issue for a different time.

Greg Dunn

Candidate, County Commission Post 1

Fayetteville, Ga.