Ga. sheriff used public office, children’s charity to aid campaign
ATLANTA — The email, sent from a Cobb County, Ga., sheriff’s employee to the district attorney’s office, sought volunteers for the sheriff’s annual Corn Boilin’ event to raise money for the Cobb County Youth Museum.“This is a great opportunity to meet tons of folks and it is for a great cause!” it read.
The great cause was, in fact, Sheriff Neil Warren himself.
Emails, interviews and campaign finance records show Warren used the children’s charity to solicit volunteers and donations for a fundraiser that brought in thousands of dollars for his reelection effort, while neither he nor his campaign contributed anything directly to the nonprofit museum.Much of the organizing for the Corn Boilin’ was done by public employees working out of the Sheriff’s Office on county time, emails show. Documents also raise questions about the use of in-house services from the jail kitchen for food preparation and inmate labor for cleanup after the fundraiser.
Warren’s campaign finances are currently under investigation by the state ethics commission.
Article submitted by, sheltomlee.