AllOnGeorgia broke the story last week, releasing a cell phone video of Speaker David Ralston’s Chief of Staff, Spiro Amburn, cursing out an employee of the Georgia Republican Party after his boss was not invited on stage on election night.
The story was published across media outlets, including the Atlanta Journal Constitution and 11Alive, and while Amburn apologized for his language, no apology was issued to the employee of the Georgia GOP.
Since then, the stakes have been raised and the staff member appears to be doubling down. Social media account from Georgia legislators imply that perhaps a personal vendetta may be in play here.
State Representative John Pezold, a legislator from Columbus, took to his Facebook account Tuesday night to report a second incident against the same employee of the Georgia Republican Party. The post states that Amburn allegedly stated to Capitol Police that he was, in fact, a state representative and was concerned about a
Hughes, the Georgia Republican Party employee at the center of Amburn’s wrath, was called on his personal cell phone about a suspicious vehicle parked in a legislator’s parking spot. Understandably, the action left many wondering: If a cell phone number was available to track down the owner, why was the vehicle considered “suspicious” by the person who made the report?
The Speaker’s Office issued a statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution claiming that is the responsibility of the Speaker’s office to restrict House lawmakers from letting “unauthorized” persons use a parking space or permit.
State Representative Kevin Cooke, a Carrollton Republican and the legislator with the parking pass in question, issued the following statement to AllOnGeorgia on Thursday:
I, an elected member of the General Assembly from the 18th House District of Georgia, instructed Brad Hughes to display my permit and park in my place since I was driving both of us to a legislative event. His vehicle was neither unauthorized nor suspicious since a valid parking tag was clearly displayed in the windshield. For all intents and purposes, the vehicle parked there was mine for the purpose of legislative business. It is no different than any other member who, at some point, has driven a rental car or the automobile of a spouse, child or friend to the Capitol and parked in the deck.
Further, there are 236 members of the General Assembly. It is highly doubtful that anyone has committed every member and his or her most frequently driven automobile to memory. Considering there was a valid parking permit in the vehicle, one could be puzzled how it could be labeled and reported suspicious, particularly considering my campaign bumper sticker is on the back window.
Let’s call this what it is- another example of an unelected staff member from the Speaker’s office embarrassing the caucus by causing issues for elected officials and unelected Georgians alike. Obviously it’s become a common occurrence for these people to lash out at members of the State House, members of the State Senate and Party leadership. It’s time for a change!
The Georgia General Assembly is set to convene in January for the legislative session, which will run through April. The contentious environment spearheaded by staffers in the leadership office has Georgians across the state concerned that the focus will remain on petty personal grudges instead of necessarily legislation.
The Georgia Republican Party has been silent on the entire debacle.