Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. is asking the city to pay the legal bills in two civil lawsuits with The Augusta Press over his failure to provide records and receipts pertaining to his campaign and a nonprofit.
One of the suits clearly involves work Davis did for the city, but the other revolves around the question of work by a nonprofit to which Davis has no direct connection, and it names a non-city employee as a co-defendant.
District 4 Commissioner Al Mason says he was unaware the city was paying the mayor’s legal bills and that the matter had never been brought up with the city’s legal counsel in any meeting he attended.
“The city should not be involved in any of this. This just shows the need for transparency. We need to know what has gone on in the past and currently in the mayor’s office. This shell game he keeps playing has me at my wits end,” Mason said.
The bills so far total nearly $15,000.
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The city of Augusta is not named in either lawsuit; however, because one lawsuit relates to matters that are tied to Davis’ official duties, the city is responsible for paying the legal bills and there is precedent, according to former commissioner Jerry Brigham.
“That has been the practice in Augusta numerous times. The city covered Marion Williams when he got sued. They always claim the suits have to do with their official duties,” Brigham said.
One of the lawsuits names Davis and his campaign manager Tonia Gibbons in a matter regarding their nonprofit, Mayor’s Masters Reception Inc.
In 2016, the Mayor’s Masters Reception Committee Inc. was dissolved with the Office of the Secretary of State, and a new nonprofit corporation, Augusta Mayor’s Masters Reception Inc. was created with Gibbons listed as CEO, CFO and secretary. Davis is not listed as an officer on either of the nonprofits.
This move allowed Davis and Gibbons to solicit private donations that can be legally shielded from public view. Former employees in the Mayor’s Office say that Davis was actively fundraising for the Mayor’s Masters Reception, according to previous reports in The Augusta Press. Questions remain regarding whether the donations were used for the Mayor’s Masters Reception or something else.
Normally, nonprofits are not subject to the open records law, unless a third or more of their annual budget comes from public funding. The Mayor’s Masters reception receives $5,000 annually in cash from the city and thousands of dollars more in in-kind services.
The Augusta Press has requested documents from Davis and Gibbons regarding the nonprofit, and they refused to provide them, which ultimately led to a lawsuit being filed.
The city of Augusta is not a litigant in the second suit, and the nonprofit is not connected to the city. However, because the Mayor’s Masters Reception is a part of his official duties, Davis submitted a bill to the city for $5,131 to cover legal expenses, according to the invoice received.
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Davis continues to pay his campaign manager, Gibbons, $5,000 a month out of the Mayor’s Office checking account.
The other lawsuit, which has already been adjudicated, contends that Davis told the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission that certain receipts it requested were actually expenses his campaign paid for even though they covered costs incurred as part of his work as mayor of Augusta. He has refused to turn those receipts over to investigators, claiming they were exempt from the Georgia Open Records Law.
The Augusta Press next made an open records request for the same receipts on the grounds that the money was spent in the mayor’s official duties.
Davis then flip-flopped and told Superior Court Chief Judge Daniel J. Craig the very opposite, that the receipts were campaign-related and had no connection to his duties as mayor.
Craig ruled against Davis and compelled him to provide the receipts. Davis responded by filing an appeal, meaning the case will drag on and eventually cost the city even more in attorney fees.
The bill for the first round of that suit is $9,766.66, according to the invoice.
District 10 Commissioner John Clarke, has pushed for a city-wide audit for more than a year and says the revelations further vindicate his crusade to force transparency on the city and elected officials.
“We desperately need to take $3 million from ARP funds and use an auditing firm other than the one we use locally. Otherwise, things will never change. People like the mayor just do what they want and then apologize later,” Clarke said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
