Mayor of Atlanta in defense after allegations for criminal misconduct

Atlanta, GA. (Atlanta News First) – The Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, defended himself on Wednesday and other city guides, who are in the backend due to criminal misconduct.

“If you have examined for two or three years and have found nothing there than there is nothing,” Mayor Dickens first said in an interview with Atlanta News.

On Tuesday, five current and former employees of the Office of the General Inspector sent a letter acquired by Atlanta News First to the first -class law enforcement authorities in Georgia.

In the letter, a number of allegations of “potential criminal misconduct” by Mayor Andre Dickens and members of his cabinet, including the Chief Policy Officer Courtney English, and by leading firefighters in the city of Atlanta were presented.

The authors asked for “Whistleblower” shit in accordance with section 45-1-4 OCGA to protect employees and drive the weaknesses within the local government.

“It was a complaint. It wasn't necessarily true that it was true, ”said Dickens on Wednesday. “The IG, which terminated her job two weeks ago, is now hurling mud,” said Dickens.

The letter was not written by Manigault, but by five OIG employees.

According to an OIG spokesman, one of the authors resigned on Tuesday after writing the letter.

On February 17th, Shannon Manigault resigned after a feud several months with the city as General Inspector of Atlanta.

In her return letter, Manigault said: “City leaders made it impossible for me to do my job. Instead of fighting corruption, I had to fight to defend my office and myself from a relentless attack to delegitimize OIG's work and discredit myself. “

On Wednesday Dickens said it was Manigault who was wrong.

“The person who is supposed to look for abuse of power has actually misused their power. The absolute power is absolutely corrupted, and we found that with Shannon Manigault, the former IG, ”said Dickens.

Atlanta News first examines the allegations described in the letter of March 3.

In a complaint it is claimed that the city has given people and contracts to people who have made financial contributions to the Dickens election campaign.

By accessing public records, four board members of the non-profit Star-C campaign contributions made Andre Dickens, a total of $ 13,050.

Star C founder and chairman Margaret Stagmeier made a contribution of $ 3,300 in May 2023.

In October 2023, the Atlanta city council unanimously approved a donation of $ 2,000,000 in Star-C for the efforts of the evacuation diversion.

A second complaint claims that a deputy fire chief for the city of Atlanta who has used urban equipment and staff for his private business, executive safety concepts LLC.

Public records show that the deputy fire chief of the fire brigade mentioned in the letter has a business that is registered with the Georgia Corporations Division.

After Empault resigned on Friday, the city called a new preliminary general inspector, Ladawn Blackett.

On Wednesday, Blackett made the following explanation for the letter “Whistleblower” and current investigations:

The former President of the city council of Atlanta, Felicia Moore, argued on Monday before the city council that Blackett's appointment as an interim had violated the city charter.

According to Moore, the Charter prevents the executive an interim for a department with an independent board of directors.

For this reason, Moore said that she has no confidence in the general inspector's office because it is in its current form.

“At that time I have none [confidence] Because at the moment it is led by the executive, the mayor's office and the public prosecutor, and it is not independent, ”Moore first said to Atlanta News on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the mayor's press spokesman said that the mayor had the authority to appoint a meantime in this scenario.

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