Former state senator apologizes after campaign ‘deportation' buses
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Michael Williams took to his public Facebook page to explain why he accepted a plea deal on insurance fraud charges in May and to apologize for his controversial "Deportation Bus" gubernatorial campaign.
Last year, Williams promised supporters a vote for him as governor would lead to strong immigration reform. With a promise to fill the bus with undocumented men and women he described as murderers, rapists, kidnappers and other criminals, the bus drew a lot of criticism.
But Williams, who was a state senator for Forsyth County at the time, stood behind the campaign promise and the bus.
"This country was based on immigration and I am for legal immigration, not for people who show complete disrespect for our laws," Williams told FOX 5 News during the 2018 campaign season.
But Tuesday on his public Facebook page, the disgraced former state senator apologized to supporters.
"I should not have run for Governor or allowed my public persona to be so drastically changed to something it wasn't," he said as he explained how his candidacy lacked the traits of a viable campaign. "I allowed my pride, ego and bad advice, to persuade me that I had a solid chance in the governor's race. Knowing I didn't have the name ID, the political network or the money, I subjected my ability to mount a statewide campaign to three qualifying prerequisites that would help overcome these shortcomings."
I allowed my campaign to do it in a way that was not representative of who I am," he wrote in a Tuesday morning post that goes on to say, "My campaign became solely about doing whatever needed to be done in order to create headlines to build name id."
RELATED: 'Deportation bus' candidate Michael Williams reports to jail
The buses stopped rolling and the campaign ended. Williams ultimately pleaded guilty to making a false report that his computer servers were stolen from his campaign headquarters. A judge sentenced him in May to four years of probation and community service.
About those legal problems he said, on Facebook
"Let me be clear. I did not commit insurance fraud. I did not steal my own servers. I did not authorize the stealing of my servers or any variation thereof. I did not break the law."
Williams told supporters he accepted the plea deal to move on from the "embarrassing" chapter in his life, but says he will continue to be a passionate advocate for immigration enforcement and the constitutional right to bear arms.
Click here to see the full post
RELATED: Georgia 'deportation bus' candidate apologizes, blames 'pride, ego and bad advice'