For those that missed this story in the AJC over the weekend, I apologize for my tardiness on it. I had quite a busy weekend with meetings, and I didn’t get a chance to write about it. I don’t feel THAT bad about just now getting to it though, since Erick only got to it this morning himself – though has apparently heard rumors of it for quite some time.
Nathan Deal is currently the US Representative from the 9th District and is running for Governor of Georgia in 2010. He first came on to the legislative scene during the 1980 election cycle, where he ran for an won a State Senate race, remaining in that position until being elected to his current position in the 1992 elections. He worked his way up to second in command of the State Senate, the position known as President Pro Tempore – currently held by Tommie Williams (R-Lyons).
Way back in 1982, the State of Georgia passed a law that said that any wrecked car had to be inspected before being allowed to be sold or driven. Remember, Deal was already in the General Assembly at this point. Unfortunately, LEGIS, the site that I use to do my bill research, only goes back to 1995, meaning that I cannot find this particular bill and how Deal voted on it at the time. Regardless, in 1989 the State contracted with one site in Athens to do the inspections, and expanded the program a year later.
At the beginning of February, 1990, Deal partnered with Ken Cronan to open Recovery Services, Inc. Under a non-competitive selection process, this brand new business became one of the sites the inspections program was expanded to. No paperwork exists to explain what the selection process was, and Deal currently doesn’t “know there was much of an official thing”. But remember, this was a State program and Deal was then a powerful enough State Senator that he was about to become the President Pro Tem of the Senate.
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