D'Aversa's e-mails to Longoria may open ethics charge in Milton

by Jason Wright / Appen Newspapers

October 05, 2009

Milton — Investigations into apparent ethics violations at the state and city levels could be in Councilwoman Tina D'Aversa's future after she sent a series of e-mails from her taxpayer-paid city account to election opponent Joseph Longoria. In them she allegedly urged him to drop out of the race and join a volunteer committee.

According to the State Ethics Commission, that political use of the e-mail account violates the Ethics in Government Act adopted by the Georgia Legislature in 1986. It also appears to violate Milton's own ethics ordinance.

At press time, D'Aversa had not been charged with any ethics violations.

Rick Thompson, executive secretary for the Georgia Ethics Commission, said he could not speak directly to a specific case unless an ethics violation charge is filed.

"[But] if anybody uses e-mail or government equipment to try to influence an election in any way, then that is prohibited by the act," said Thompson.

D'Aversa said she and Longoria began contact in early September after she learned he was running for office against her. She heard he was running because he had wanted to join a Milton volunteer board but never got any response.

D'Aversa said she was trying to tell him, "I believe I have something for you that you wanted all along," because "he didn't really want to run."

They talked on the phone and over e-mails the Milton Herald received after a Freedom of Information Act filing. In the e-mails D'Aversa allegedly offered to put Longoria on the Highway 9 Design Guidelines Committee in place of Roger Festa, who also serves on another board.

In a Sept.. 3 e-mail sent from tina.daversa@cityofmiltonga.us, D'Aversa wrote: "My intention is for you to join a board or committee and withdraw your application to seek my council position serving from District 5."

Thompson said such an e-mail could constitute using government equipment in an effort to gain a contribution to one's campaign, as the hypothetical individual then could have run without opposition.

"If he runs, it hurts her campaign. It he doesn't run, then she has a great big jump. Therefore, she would secure her office, which is a contribution," he said.

D'Aversa said she doesn't believe she has "done anything inappropriate" and that all the facts have not been revealed. She said she would welcome speaking to any ethics board about it.

"It does seem as if it would be, as written and read, my intention [to remove a rival candidate]. But it wasn't my intention," she said. "Unfortunately only I know what my intentions were."

"Mr. Longoria and I know what our conversation was. Really, I wrote the e-mail too hastily and didn't think about it. My intentions were not ... to influence the election."

D'Aversa copied Mayor Joe Lockwood and City Manager Chris Lagerbloom on the e-mails, saying they should know that Longoria had tried to contact the city about volunteering but could never get anywhere. He was a citizen regardless of there being a election, and she was doing her job to serve him, she said.

"Because I am elected official, it is my job to do this," she said. "I immediately communicated to the city manager and mayor that this is what he told me. Why would I do that if I was trying to do something not above board?"

But the problem is the use of city e-mail for the conversation that involved election issues.

"We have a number of boards that you may be qualified for, and I would like to explore this you so that we can move forward without a costly election campaign," she wrote.

"I have to use the city communications opportunities," D'Aversa said. "That was initially the only opportunity I had to contact him. We use these e-mails interchangeably — there's just no way around it to accomplish everything we have to do on a given day."

D'Aversa added she talked with the city's Ethics Board members about her actions when accusations first arose she had done something unethical. However, it appears she may have stepped afoul of the city's laws, too.

Article 4, section 9 of the city's code of ethics passed in October 2008 says "no City Official or Employee shall make use of government time or equipment to aid a political candidate, party or cause."

There could also be problems relating to D'Aversa's assertion she could appoint Longoria to a city board for getting out of the race. Such appointments are meant to be objective.

Independent legal counsel contacted by the Milton Herald confirmed such action could be seen as a "quid pro quo" situation. Milton's ethics ordinance prohibits "[Council members engaging] in conduct which is unbecoming to a member or which constitutes a breach of public trust."

City Attorney Ken Jarrard said he would not speculate on the matter. Calls to Todd Ashley, the city Ethics Board chairman, were not returned.

D'Aversa said in no way was the volunteer appointment an effort to "buy off" Longoria. The councilwoman said she welcomes competition in the election — which seems to contrast what she wrote in another Sept. 3 e-mail to Longoria: "You can be involved without trying to take the position I worked so hard and so successfully to fill."

For his part, Longoria, a Crooked Creek resident, said the situation is unfortunate. He said after unsuccessfully exploring voluntarism the "logical next step" was running for office.

Longoria said D'Aversa's assertion that he didn't really want to run wasn't fair.

"I think Tina was a little bit surprised I was running — she obviously didn't want any opposition in the race," he said. "Nobody knew I was going to run. But if I didn't want to run, I wouldn't have put my name into the hat."