I-Team: Campaigning on the clock? Gwinnett DA files ethics complaint against his opponent

By Randy Travis Published September 9, 2020 LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The race for Gwinnett County District Attorney just got more interesting. Incumbent Danny Porter filed an ethics complaint accusing his opponent of using county time and equipment to help her campaign. Patsy Austin-Gatson denied it, calling the move “desperate.” “I would never use county materials or resources,” she told FOX 5 I-Team reporter Randy Travis. “I know better.” Austin-Gatson doesn’t just want to be the first woman or person of color elected as Gwinnett County district attorney. The Democrat wants to be the county’s first new DA in 28 years, aiming to replace Republican Porter. In August, she took a leave of absence from her job as assistant solicitor and community affairs director for the Gwinnett County Solicitor’s Office. But on Tuesday, Porter complained to the ethics commission Austin-Gatson had already broken the law. “It’s been going on since election season began,” he told the FOX 5 I-Team. According to Porter’s complaint, Austin-Gatson “created, edited and printed campaign material on county-owned computers and printers during business hours." He says she also “made fundraising calls during regular working hours.” And the complaint says investigators from the Solicitor’s Office were seen taking Austin-Gatson campaign signs from the trunk of a county vehicle and placing them along Sugarloaf Parkway. “This is a substantive issue of use of taxpayer resources to run a political campaign,” said Porter. “So yeah, I think it’s serious.” Incumbent Danny Porter says his opponent and her fellow Solicitor's Office employees broke the law by campaigning on county time. They deny it. Austin-Gatson said she may have made campaign calls during typical work hours, but only because she doesn’t have a set work schedule. “I would not use county time to do anything for my campaign,” she explained. “So calls could very well have been made between 9 and 5 but it was not me using county time to do it.” Porter said he only filed the ethics complaint after an incident that happened last month.