SecState IG Shawn Lagrua Impeached!?

From out of the Blue,

Here's the latest missive from the fine folks over at Voter.GA on the ongoing saga of SecState IG Shawn Lagrua and persecution of Laura Gallegos, Guy Antinozzi and others over the last couple of years. The impeachment papers are over at the General Assembly website under HR1714 and reads like some kind of political soap opera replete with plots, counter plots and skulduggery galore.

All in all, it's quite the bombshell and we'll be following here at Bludgeon & Skewer to see how it works out.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Garland Favorito

March 22, 2010 (404) 664-4044
garlandf@msn.com
http://www.voterga.org

Impeachment Articles Filed in Georgia House Against Secretary of State’s Inspector General


ATLANTA, GA – Articles of Impeachment were filed last week in the Georgia House of Representatives against Shawn LaGrua, the Inspector General for the office of the Secretary of State. The articles charge that her office conducted several investigations improperly during the time period from 2004 to 2010.

The impeachment charges note failures by Mrs. LaGrua or her office to investigate cases thoroughly where clear potential violations or discrepancies existed. They also identify cases where individuals were dubiously charged for violations without substantive evidence that they committed those violations. The articles cite political motivations as possible reasons for several different investigations that produced questionable results.

The impeachment charges first reference a criminal investigation that Shawn LaGrua conducted in 2004 while she was both an Assistant District Attorney and the Solicitor General in Dekalb County. Many of the other impeachable offenses involve investigations conducted while Shawn LaGrua was the Inspector General for former Secretary of State, Karen Handel. These investigations were conducted for cases involving voting machines and elections matters on behalf of the State Election Board (SEB). A few more of the charges involve SEB investigations as recently as 2010.

Prior to working for Dekalb County, Shawn LaGrua was an Assistant District Attorney for Fulton County. After becoming an Assistant District Attorney in Dekalb County, she was appointed as the Solicitor General for the county by Governor Sonny Purdue. When Karen Handel, the former Fulton County chairwoman, was elected Secretary of State in 2006, she established the office of Inspector General and selected Shawn LaGrua to lead that office in 2007.

In December of 2009, three complaints were filed with the State Inspector General by three different citizens regarding investigations that Mrs. Lagrua’s office conducted or failed to conduct during 2008 and 2009. Also in 2010, a fourth complaint by another Georgia citizen was filed with the U.S. Justice Dept. Days after his office was notified of the first three complaints, Governor Purdue appointed Shawn LaGrua to the Atlanta Judicial Circuit. She is expected to become a Fulton County Superior Court judge in July of this year.

The impeachment articles were drafted as HR1714 and are available on the General Assembly website at http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2009_10/fulltext/hr1714.htm. They have been sent to the House Judiciary Committee which will likely determine what action to take. Under the Georgia Constitution, the House has the power to impeach an official while the Senate is granted authority to conduct a trial.

Documents concerning complaints about the investigations in question can be found on the VoterGA web site at: http://www.voterga.org/more/index.cfm?Fuseaction=more_15727. An in depth documentary about the questionable investigations that were conducted can be found on the Political Vine web site at: http://politicalvine.com/politicalrumors/law-and-justice/the-real-shawn-lagrua/.

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