Today, in a terse one-sentence ruling, the Georgia Court of Appeals summarily dismissed Paul Moore’s appeal of his conviction on 3 serious ethics charges.  (I am attaching the appellate ruling.)  For this appeal, Mr. Moore hired additional high-powered attorneys that specialize in appellate court appeals . . . but to no avail.

In its ruling, the appellate court upheld the Fulton Superior Court’s earlier ruling.  Those of us following the Paul Moore Ethics Scandal were not surprised in the least by the appellate court decision.  Council Member Moore has now been brutally smacked down in 3 judicial venues.  Justice has prevailed.  The unanimous decision of Milton’s 3-attorney ethics panel stands.

I must admit that (even though we were once friends and allies) I feel little sorrow for Mr. Moore. . . for two reasons. 

First, Moore’s conviction was an entirely self-inflicted wound.  I truly believe that Moore had an at least an inkling that his actions were unethical but calculated that no one would have the moxie and money to challenge him . . . he was wrong.  Early on, Moore could have manned up and the damage to him and the city might have been minimized.  He chose otherwise and is now paying the price, as is the City.  Moore’s incomprehensible perpetuation of this sad saga over 14+ months have only made matters worse for him and more importantly for the City.  That gets me to my second point . . .

Second and much more importantly, Mr. Moore has visited tremendous damage upon the City through his selfish and quixotic quest for his distorted notion of justice in the face of hard facts.  Non-stop bad publicity has hurt the city’s image.  This scandal has also diverted scarce monetary resources (e.g., to pay legal expenses) and human resources (e.g., staff time).  Worst of all, this ethics scandal, repeated intrusions into minor White Columns HOA issues, and most recently flaws in municipal election design/implementation have diverted City attention from strategic issues to minutiae, petty HOA quarrels, and hyper-partisan politics (including unreasonably unequal access to polling locations for District 3 voters).

It is unclear (to me) whether Paul Moore has any more avenues of appeal.  Regardless, it seems Moore will likely become the first Council Member to be convicted of ethics violations in the Milton’s 17-year history.  This is an ignominious honor for Mr. Moore and I think a result of Mr. Moore’s hubris in the face of incontrovertible evidence of his guilt.  Given that Mr. Moore seems to have no realistic chance of overturning the latest ruling, now would be a good time for Mr. Moore to engage in some serious soul-searching . . . which I suspect is a foreign notion to him.  Mr. Moore needs to place the priorities of the City ahead of his narrow personal interests.  Quite simply, Mr. Moore should resign from City Council.  Resignation is the only decent, honorable and respectable course of action and offers Mr. Moore an opportunity to preserve at least a shred of dignity in the face of his serious ethical breaches.  I think a sincere resignation would allow Mr. Moore to exit government and politics on a positive—albeit muted—note.

While I believe Mr. Moore should resign, I strongly believe Moore will not resign but rather will resort to increasingly desperate campaign tactics.  Politically, Moore resembles a wounded and cornered animal.  Accordingly, I predict he (or his proxies) will lash out at his political adversaries.  Mr. Moore is up for re-election in the fall of 2023 . . . elections he helped design.  (Think about the ethical issues of self-dealing associated with designing elections in which you will run . . . it is not hard to understand why District 3 was denied a polling location.)  At least on paper, Mr. Moore’s competitor, Doug Hene, seems quite formidable.  I suspect Mr. Moore’s political camp will seek to neutralize the ethics issues by dragging Hene into the mud.  And in fact, rumors are flying that the Moore Camp is seeking to score some cheap political points based on a brief, casual (albeit inappropriate) discussion of politics initiated by the DRB Chairman (not Hene) that occurred at the conclusion of Monday night’s Design Review Board (DRB) meeting.  (Mr. Hene sits on this board.) Based on the little I have heard so far about, it is a tempest in a teapot . . . a big fat nothing-burger.  Stay tuned.  The 2023 political season could get ugly. 

My advice to Mr. Hene is take a deep breath and stick to the high road . . . for now.  It might be best to ignore Mr. Moore and his proxies.  As he has repeatedly demonstrated, Moore is his own worst enemy.  And his vanishingly small band of political proxies will provide little help . . . they have proven themselves clever by half.  Public opinion has turned decidedly against Moore; he will only hurt himself further (if that is possible) if he travels the political low road.  Hene should be careful to not allow himself to be baited and pulled down into the mud.  Hene should focus right now on defining himself, listening to citizens, and painting a positive vision for Milton.

Advocating For Good Governance,

Tim

Postscript: Please forward blog emails and blog links to other citizens. The upcoming election is critical to the future direction of Milton. It is important for citizens to understand the backstory of Milton politics, which I have been providing since 2015. The MC blog really provides the only in-depth analysis of Milton government and politics currently available to citizens. I strive to be factual and to base my opinions on careful weighing of the facts. The fact that I was once close allies with Paul Moore and Laura Bentley strongly attests to my independence. I broke with Moore and Bentley when I realized that they had abandoned the core principles that so many of us fought for in 2016 and 2017 and that we expressed in our votes for Bentley in 2017, when she won in an historic landslide victory. Neither Moore nor Bentley has even once written to me to dispute any factual assertion in my blog, which I believe is a testament to my dedication to getting at the truth in Milton. Of course, I always welcome the opportunity to correct any error of fact.