Georgia ethics agency chief Holly LaBerge fired by commission

Holly LaBerge, the head of the state ethics commission, has been fired.

Last week, LaBerge was fined and put on administrative leave. A judge fined LaBerge and the state attoey general's office $10,000 each for not handing over texts, emails and a memo showing LaBerge had communicated with top aides for Gov. Nathan Deal shortly before the commission considered ethics complaints involving the goveor's 2010 personal and campaign-finance disclosures.

The fines were issued as part of a lawsuit filed by former commission director Stacey Kalberman, who said she was forced out of her job for investigating ethics complaints against the goveor.
 
A jury earlier this year sided with Kalberman, who was awarded $750,000 in damages plus $450,000 in back pay and attoey fees. After the verdict, the state chose to settle for $1.8 million with three other former commission employees who also said they were retaliated against.
 
In issuing the fine, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville noted he was "extremely troubled" by LaBerge's actions throughout the case and said she had "repeatedly proven herself to be dishonest and non-transparent."
 
In response to the fine, LaBerge's attoey said she planned to appeal and praised LaBerge as "the whistleblower that risked her job to disclose a major cover-up engaged in by the attoey general's office for no other reason than to hide the truth and avoid liability in pending litigation."
 
Attoey General Olens said Thursday that attoeys in his office were dealing with a "difficult client" in LaBerge and were not aware of the texts and emails. Olens said state attoeys asked LaBerge multiple times if she had any more documents and were "repeatedly told no."