Gwinnett Co. policy prevents ethics complaints against incumbents Channel 2 Action News has discovered a loophole in the Gwinnett County ethics policy that some believe protects county officials seeking re-election.

Gwinnett commissioners approved the ethics policy last year to improve transparency, especially in relation to any business dealings that could financially benefit elected officials.

But, they added a clause that puts ethics complaints leveled at incumbents on hold for six months. Gwinnett County resident Joe Newton discovered that when he tried to lodge an ethics complaints against Commissioner Mike Beaudreau in June.

He believes Beadreau has abused his county expense account.

"I found that he was charging the mileage expense to baseball games, golf tournaments, all types of recreational events,” Newton told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh. "They sent it back to me, instead of investigating it."

Kavanuagh researched Newton's complaint. She could not substantiate his claims, but did discover why the county rejected them.

Within the county's new ethics policy there's the following clause: "However, no complaint may be filed against a candidate before the qualifying date for election of such candidate and the date of the candidate's general election or runoff election, if necessary."

Beaudreau is seeking re-election in November.

"Can you imagine if there was something legitimate that was brought up and then you wait until after you voted to discover if it was a valid claim or not?” said David Hancock with Citizens for a Better Gwinnett.

County officials have said the clause is to keep allegations from becoming political weapons. But Hancock, who is with watchdog group Citizens for a Better Gwinnett, said ignoring them could leave voters in the dark.

"To think that a charge could be brought that was actually valid, you find out six months later...” Hancock said.

Beaudreau was unable to speak to on-camera Wednesday, but in response to the complaint he sent a statement that read, in part, “Joe Newton is a well-known political extortionist. This is just his latest attempt to smear me and my family."

Beaudreau also said he stands by his record of transparency and openness. As it relates to the ethics policy, he said that clause is a fly trap which caught the fly it was intended to in this case.