DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News is reviewing a list of vendor contracts that prosecutors believe DeKalb County's CEO used to shake down companies for campaign contributions.
CEO Burrell Ellis faces a 15-count felony indictment alleging that he threatened to withhold county business from companies that didn't contribute to his campaign.
The spreadsheets of vendor contracts, at least 40 spreadsheets in all, date from June 2011 to last April. It lists the names of companies awarded county contracts, the names of the projects and the points of contact for the companies.
The indictment, released last month, alleges Ellis ordered county employees to create the lists after each county commission meeting for solicitation purposes.
"If the allegations are true, this is just a shocking abuse of power. This is what we call pay to play," said William Perry, of the watchdog group Common Cause.
The list was first obtained through an open records request by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
List shows contracts at center of DeKalb CEO indictment
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