There’s a series of brewing scandals and controversies in Cumming, a small town by Lake Lanier where the city grandfathers like it nice and quiet and cancel elections because opposition is scarce.
Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, who was first sworn in during Nixon’s first term, is accused of misusing funds. There’s an impeachment effort afoot, although it’s not aimed at the mayor. The state attorney general’s office is being asked to weigh in. And the FBI is said to be sniffing around.
A familiar story lies at the root of it all: older guys and younger women.
Let’s start with City Councilman Rupert Sexton. Rupert, a great old-timey name, is pushing 77 and not long ago married a woman who was in kindergarten when he was first elected in 1970.
Last year, Sexton sought a change in city policy that would enable the spouses of certain city council members to acquire lifetime health insurance benefits.
Sexton said he framed a “narrow” proposal, limiting spousal insurance to council members who have served for 30 years and are at least 62. But in Cumming that means almost everybody. Four of the five councilmen, as well as the mayor, fall into that range. The council’s newcomer is John D. Pugh, who’s north of 80 but came on relatively recently — in 1992.
In July, Sexton asked for a list of employees on the city health plan. At least one line on the spreadsheet surprised him. The mayor’s longtime girlfriend, Angie Mullinax, who was also kindergarten age when Gravitt was first elected mayor in 1970, is receiving health benefits.
Mullinax is not an employee. Sexton also noticed that Dana Miles, who is the city attorney but not a city employee, is covered by the city’s plan.
Last month, Sexton brought up his spousal insurance proposal in a closed-door meeting. He said the mayor turned it down flat. The mayor contends that lifetime spousal coverage would leave the city liable for untold future costs.
Then Sexton, the mayor said, got up and said, “I’ll do what I have to do.”
Sexton doesn’t deny saying that, although he said it wasn’t a threat.
Soon, the health care recipient list appeared on the social media site of David Milum, a local watchdog/hell-raiser type. The mayor hit the roof.
A council meeting was called to look into the matter. The aim wasn’t, however, to discuss the issue of health benefits for a non-employee, mayoral girlfriend. Instead, the meeting was to determine whether Sexton was the in-house rat who released the list to a political trouble-maker and to explore whether the councilman should be impeached for breaking medical privacy laws. Mind you, the list wasn’t diagrams of hernia operations or colon exams, it simply showed public employees who got health insurance and how much they paid.
The council appointed a three-member panel to look into impeaching Sexton. He, in turn, calls it a Kangaroo Panel because it includes the non-employee city attorney who is getting city health insurance.
The attorney recently told TV reporters that several city attorneys in Georgia get that perk. But the Georgia Municipal Association, which provides that insurance, states that health insurance policies are for full-time employees.
After GirlfriendGate hit the news, the FBI started asking questions about the insurance.
Sexton said he has been interviewed by the FBI, adding with a bit of relish, “he was on the government corruption squad.”
Gravitt said he hasn’t spoken with any agents.
“I don’t see the issue,” the mayor said in a short interview. “But we’ll see what happens at the end. Whatever it is, we’ll cooperate.”
When the discussion shifted to love interests, however, Gravitt changed the subject and quickly bid a polite goodbye.
Soon after the news stories of the girlfriend were broadcast, a deposition from a lawsuit concerning that same subject surfaced. The suit was filed by Nydia Tisdale, a citizen journalist who was tossed out of a Cumming City Council meeting in 2012. Tisdale was filming the meeting, and Gravitt, apparently a shy type and a stickler for old-time decorum, had her removed by police. This all was in defiance of a state law.
In the 2013 deposition, attorney Gerry Weber was well-prepared and tore into Gravitt. (Tisdale said they decided to go after Gravitt after his side did the same to her when she was deposed.) Weber asked the mayor about business dealings and his relationship with Mullinax. “She’s a traveling friend,” the 73-year-old widower replied.
Asked whether Mullinax was an employee, Gravitt said, “No, sir,” quickly adding “she does a lot of legwork for me since I don’t have a City Hall secretary.” Gravitt did mention she gets health insurance.
This week I called City Administrator Gerald Blackburn, who has — naturally — worked for Cumming for 40 years.
Asked whether Mullinax worked there, he paused and said, “She’s not a traditional employee.”
Although they are feuding, Sexton speaks admiringly of the mayor, saying Gravitt is a self-made man (the auto body biz and some real estate) who was forced to become a bread-winner after his father died when Gravitt was 13.
Sexton said Gravitt has been a successful leader and is proud that city residents pay no property tax. The city of 5,000 residents has a sweet setup: a tap into Lake Lanier that enables Cumming to sell water to the surrounding county at a profit.
And, it seems, there must be something more than fluoride in the water up there, where white-haired fellows are able to attract much younger women.
Sexton laughed at the suggestion. He just had a medical check-up and the doctor was impressed by his robust bearing.
“My doctor said, ‘Whatever you’re doing, keep on doing it.’ ”
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