Gwinnett County Ga-City Councilman Behaving Badly. Mike Sabbagh Violated Ethics Code

Oct. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- Several months ago, Snellville councilman Mike Sabbagh went in front of the Marietta city council to ask for a special consideration for a friend. Then he threatened the council with a reference to Aljazeera. Sabbagh not only wore his Snellville city council badge, he announced that he was a member of Snellville’s council and then went on to make a few statements that appear to be blatantly false. Members of the Snellville city council considered filing a formal ethics complaint against Sabbagh but dropped the matter after he apologized for his actions and for embarrassing the city.    

Gwinnett Ethics investigators began looking into the conduct of Snellville’s city council members after an ethics “watchdog” started filing complaints. They found that Sabbagh appears to have committed a number of ethics violations. His appearance in front of the Marietta is one of them. There’s no question that he was using his position to get special treatment for his friend. But we think that may be just the tip of the iceberg. It’s hard to believe that he drove to Marietta several times, threatened the council and made false statements unless there was something in it for him. Did he accept a payment to appear before the Marietta council? Was he promised a payment or other reward if Marietta gave his friend special consideration. Was there some other form of payback? We don’t have the answers yet. But our investigators will find them.  

Next stop will be to speak to those present in that meeting in Marietta that night. Verifying Mr Sabbagh’s resume from beginning to end will be included in this investigation. He claims to work for the FAA. This is an agency of our federal government. He also claimed to hold a position at a school in Marietta at that meeting. We hear that is untrue as well. Ethics violations are serious.

You be the judge. Below is the city code.

Snellville Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3 Code of Ethics, Article IV

Sec. 3-51. - Standards of conduct.

(a) No council member or member of any board or commission shall use such position to secure special privileges or exemptions for such person or others, or to secure confidential information for any purpose other than official responsibilities.