U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) upended state politics on Monday when he announced that he will resign from Congress to devote more time to his run for governor.
The 18-year congressional veteran effectively quashed a U.S. House ethics investigation into his business dealings with the state. He set in motion a special election to fill his unexpired seat. And he infuriated some conservatives who say the timing of the announcement empowers Democrats trying to pass health care reform.
“At a time that every vote counts on health care, Deal resigning means the Democrats have one less vote they have to pick up to take over 1/6th of our economy,” conservative blogger Erick Erickson wrote of Deal’s unexpected departure. Erickson backs GOP gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel.
Deal, who announced his March 8 resignation before about 100 supporters at the Gainesville Civic Center, said he is stepping down to devote his full attention to his campaign as one of seven Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor.
Asked Monday whether his resignation had anything to do with a House ethics investigation, Deal said, "That's absolutely not true.”
Deal has been the subject of two inquiries by congressional investigators into his role in a business with the state that earned his company $1.5 million from 2004 through 2008. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in August that Deal and a business partner obtained the lucrative state business without competition and that Deal personally intervened with state officials to fight proposed changes to the operation.
Deal denied any wrongdoing in his business dealings.
The Office of Congressional Ethics and the U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct had contacted the state Department of Revenue for documents and interviews regarding Deal's role in the business, records obtained by the AJC showed.
Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Monday that Deal's resignation would essentially scuttle the investigation. Her organization filed the ethics complaints with the U.S. House in response to the AJC's original report.
Deal had previously said he welcomed "an opportunity to state the facts" to congressional investigators, but that now apparently will not happen. Deal said Monday: "I have no control over that."
Monday, the 67-year-old Deal said he finally came to understand the difficulties of juggling his campaign with his duties in Washington.
But his announcement came only a few months after he was highly critical of Handel for resigning as secretary of state in December. At that time, his campaign released a statement that said “Nathan Deal has taken an oath to serve the people of Georgia and has a clear record of completing his terms.”
Deal is the third GOP gubernatorial candidate to leave office to focus on his or her campaign. In addition to Handel, Eric Johnson of Savannah resigned his state Senate seat.
According to sparse independent polling, Deal is among the top three candidates for the GOP nomination for governor, along with Handel and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. A Rasmussen Reports poll last week showed Deal, Oxendine and Handel each beating former Gov. Roy Barnes, the Democratic front-runner, in a head-to-head matchup. Johnson was running even.
Deal, who was first elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1992, becomes the second of the state's 13 U.S. representatives to recently announce his departure in the past few days. U.S. Rep. John Linder, a Republican from Gwinnett County, announced Saturday that he won't seek re-election in November.
At least six Republicans are already campaigning for Deal’s seat. He had announced earlier that he would seek the governor's office rather than run for re-election to Congress.
Deal's opponents wasted no time criticizing his decision.
“Hopefully the citizens of the 9th District will be able to elect a replacement before the upcoming votes on health care reform," said Ben Fry, a spokesman for Johnson. "Passage would be a disaster for our country and it is troubling that Congressman Deal’s abrupt resignation might make it easier for a government takeover of health care to become law.”
Oxendine spokesman Tim Echols called it "regrettable" that Deal's resignation means that Georgia is left “without a voice in Washington during the vital health care debate.”
Echols added, “We are hopeful that this isn't an attempt to circumvent an investigation into the state-funded program that benefited his auto salvage business.”
But Deal's supporters hit back at Oxendine, saying the insurance commissioner's numerous controversies require swift action.
"Nathan simply acted on pressure by prominent Republican leaders to drastically recommit himself to winning out of growing concern that the insurance commissioner could win the Republican primary on name ID alone and Roy Barnes beats the shakedown artist Oxendine like a drum in November," said Chip Lake, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), a Deal supporter who has recently feuded publicly with Oxendine.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Republican from Marietta, said that "by stepping away from his daily duties in Washington" to focus on his run for governor, Deal has “decided to put all of the people of Georgia first."
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