Tim Echols on his Masters request: ‘It was a mistake’
The following article by my AJC colleague Kristi Swartz is raising eyebrows around the Capitol:
Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols began criticizing his fellow commissioners for being too cozy with lobbyists even before he took office.
I am uncomfortable taking admission, taking tickets to sporting events from those that I regulate,” he said.
Yet, using official Public Service Commission letterhead, Echols went straight to the Augusta National Golf Club to request two complimentary practice round tickets to this year’s Masters, long after tickets had been distributed to one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments through a lottery system.
Echols, rather than defending himself, is acknowledging the breach. He just sent the following in an unsolicited e-mail:
”The March 2 letter requesting my name be put into the practice round lottery should have been done on my personal letterhead. Period. It was a mistake.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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143 comments Add your comment
Centrist
August 25th, 2011
3:10 pm
Or we can all just complain on this blog and let it blow over.
Centrist
August 25th, 2011
3:14 pm
The one thing that equals a hyperbolic liberal is a hypocritical conservative.
JP
August 25th, 2011
3:17 pm
Never, EVER trust anyone who wears a bow tie! Did you hear that, Jere Woods?
honky talkin'
August 25th, 2011
3:33 pm
Another hypocritical republican. Can’t say I’m shocked.
Diehard
August 25th, 2011
3:37 pm
Has anyone ever seen Tim Echols and Billy Lovett in the same place at the same time?
Penny Lane
August 25th, 2011
3:39 pm
Everything about this stinks.
And to think I voted for the guy….!
Corruption
August 25th, 2011
3:44 pm
This is yet another example of our politicians using their power for personal gain. I hate to be the debbie downer but this incident is far from isolated. These type of things go on continuously at every political/government level to varying degrees. Politicians no longer represent their constituents making our system is completely irrelevant.
dre
August 25th, 2011
3:54 pm
“Never, EVER trust anyone who wears a bow tie! Did you hear that, Jere Woods?” – I was JUST about to post this! Thank you JP. And I am not kidding either. Bow tie = pretentious arse
R U Kidding Me?
August 25th, 2011
3:55 pm
The Snark:
No one said the U.S. Attorney is supposed to respond to ethics violations. What Echols did is much more than an ethics violation. The face value of a ticket to the Masters is $38 I believe, but you can’t buy one on the open market for less than $1,000. Trying to shakedown Augusta National over a pair of tickets is a criminal violation (extortion) and a violation of his oath of office. I know it’s probably business as usual for the good old GOP boys under the Gold Dome, but it also happens to be breaking the law.
I was told by a member of the news media that Deal firing the Ethics Commission staff because they supeoned his financial records really p.o’ed the Feds and thats why the FBI is now set up shop in Georgia. All of this and no Sally Yates.
Centrist
August 25th, 2011
4:20 pm
@ R U posted “I was told by a member of the news media that Deal …”
This adds no value since it is now just partisanship. Echols needs to resign. Deal was fully vetted during his campaign, but partisans (hence the news media) won’t let it go any more than the Executive Secretary of the Ethics Commission. If Echols and his dwindling supporters can just say this is simply more partisanship – he might keep his job until the next election.
JOHN
August 25th, 2011
4:25 pm
Dirt bag. Let us not forget he was once the campaign manager for John Oxendine and even the OX ran him off. He needs to go. Now. Guys like this give honest Republicans a bad name. Resign, Tim.
No diploma on her wall
August 25th, 2011
4:33 pm
Republican.
No other words needed.
R U Kidding Me?
August 25th, 2011
4:38 pm
Centrist
Just because I was told something by a member of the news media doesn’t make it not factual. It’s a fact that the FBI has since set up shop and opened an investigation into the activities under the Gold Dome. Various news sources have reported it.
“Deal was fully vetted during his campaign” R U Kidding Me? His campaign only created more questions about his conduct and answered none that I can recall. Are you saying that because Deal resigned from Congress at midnight or face criminal indictment he’s been “fully vetted”? The only person that would make that claim would be Deal’s cohort in crime, Chris Riley.
Bama Bill
August 25th, 2011
4:41 pm
Nickols ain’t worth a nickle – can him now for such a cheezy shake-down ! This is totally unacceptable behavior for a public servant – recall the dude !
honested
August 25th, 2011
4:46 pm
John,
Can you give me a list of honest republicans?
I have half a matchbook cover if you need something to write it on.
double
August 25th, 2011
4:47 pm
R U only person msking that claim,cohort or mugwump.
Centrist
August 25th, 2011
4:47 pm
@ R U – the news media (especially in GA) is extremely partisan, so whatever you are told on the sly is more than suspect. Great that the FBI is setting up shop as one party governments start playing fast and loose – wish they had done it long ago when we had Democrat corruption running rampant. Deal won by a landslide even with all of the Democrat and media charges which were dismissed as partisan politics. All the questions got answered – partisans just didn’t like them.
Simply slandering all Republicans or “stupid” Georgians who vote for them does not advance a BI-partisan call for Echols to resign or be forcibly removed from the PSC.
double
August 25th, 2011
4:48 pm
making
honested
August 25th, 2011
4:52 pm
centrist
“All of the Democrat and media charges were dismissed as partisan politics”
By whom?
The obfuscation may have been effective, but I doubt there was any wholesale dismissal.
At least the state gives nathan a place to stay.
And landslide? Did you get to see the diebold source data?
clean up your yard
August 25th, 2011
5:17 pm
There is effectively no ethics commission after the intervention of our saintly gov’ner. We is just so fortunate to live in Georgia. I would really like to see the face of every Officer of every bank that has gone under in Georgia; that we the taxpayers have paid for; placed on the front page of every Georgia newspaper. What a swell bunch of Americans they are.
LIMOGUYS
August 25th, 2011
5:23 pm
Well what the article doesn’t say is the positive impact he has had on the Limo industry shaking out those that are not legal. He has been doing this long before he requested tickets and it is about time. The number of kids going to proms were spared potential dangerous situations thanks to him and he has been the only one in the history of the PSC that I can recall doing something about this. The article also does not state that the limo industry had asked him to please help with enforcement at events such as the masters, proms, major golf tournaments and more. From I can tell , yeah error in judgement which he admitted, but the intentions is what his job is all about.
Barry Soetoro
August 25th, 2011
5:24 pm
honested:
I’ve got a match – if you can think of an honest democrat’s name to write on it.
R U Kidding Me?
August 25th, 2011
5:24 pm
Centrist = Another GOP/Tea Party Kool-aid Drinker
In the Republican World, everything you say is exactly correct. “It’s not my fault, it’s the biased news media’s fault!”; or “It’s not my fault, it’s the bank’s fault for loaning me the money in the first place!”. Excuses, conspiracies….anything but accepting the truth. Democrats were just as guilty when they ran the Gold Dome, except they were a bit more discrete about it. It seems since the GOP took over, there is no shame. It’s every man for himself. Graves, Rogers, Deal, Perdue,Cagle, Richardson,Balfour, Staton,Echols ; none of them have been particularly discrete about their activities. I guess the FBI just needs to pack up and go home. All of these men were “vetted by the voters”. So, let’s move along, nothing to see here.
Bob
August 25th, 2011
5:27 pm
Why do we keep electing trash to represent us?
honested
August 25th, 2011
5:31 pm
barry,
I make a mild pun and you come back with that chuckmeat billhilly nonsense.
honested
August 25th, 2011
5:32 pm
RU,
The new mantra might be ‘I was elected, so what did you expect!’.
The Goobernator
August 25th, 2011
5:35 pm
Tim Echols…once had a dog… that ate a lot of homework.
Centrist
August 25th, 2011
5:39 pm
Well, this group actually stayed on task for half a day before reverting back to partisanship and name calling.
Too bad that Echols now gets a free ride. (Remember him – the subject of this blog?)
DannyX
August 25th, 2011
5:54 pm
The Goobernator wrote, “Tim Echols…once had a dog… that ate a lot of homework.”
Centrist will be here any minute trying to explain to everyone that it was actually the “liberal media that ate Echols’ homework.”
Kavariontae
August 25th, 2011
5:59 pm
I will make it a point to remember this guy come the next election.
DannyX
August 25th, 2011
6:04 pm
“I will make it a point to remember this guy come the next election.”
This incident will give Echols the confidence he needs to one day run for governor.
clean up your yard
August 25th, 2011
6:04 pm
The only way he will be kicked out is if another well known R runs against him in the primary. Sad but true.
double
August 25th, 2011
6:05 pm
The news is not biased.Just same political party being so deceptive.Always some excuse maker or spin doctor trying to cover for their party offender.
Bob
August 25th, 2011
6:12 pm
Here’s how the system works. Ga Power wants an 18% increase, so they ask the PSC for 33%. The PSC who is ignorant and uninformed, but politically savvy grants them a 24% increase…”look how much we saved our fellow Georgians”. And, because we are all idiots, we continue to re=elect them. Why do we need a PSC in the first place? Doesn’t competition determine prices? Oh that’s right, our PSC has decided that we don’t need competiton. Why do we continue to elect trash to represent us?
R U Kidding Me?
August 25th, 2011
6:14 pm
Centrist:
“Well, this group actually stayed on task for half a day before reverting back to partisanship and name calling.”
Partisanship? Is that it? Partisanship? That’s what everybody is that doesn’t agree with you? They’re either partisan or the biased media? That’s how you rationalize everything? Let’s see … someone doesn’t agree with me so they must be partisan or a memder of the biased media.
Now don’t run sit in the corner and say somebody called you a bad name, but doesn’t that sound just a tad bit out of touch with realty? I fault the Democrats just as much as I do the Republicans, so there is no partisanship here. But the facts are pretty clear that lately its been the GOP guys who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Echols was stupid enough to even put it in writing! Oh, but I forgot, it was that biased AJC who broke the story. Must not be true. Everybody move along, nothing to see here. it’s just partisan politics. And remember,” that bank should have never loaned me that money cause they knew I couldn’t pay it back” – Tom Graves, dedicated Republican and Tea Party Idol.
No Longer Republican
August 25th, 2011
6:15 pm
I think it is hilarious when people start comparing today’s corruption by the Rethugs as the same as the Democrats of yesteryear in Georgia. You have to remember one thing – they are the same people! They just switched from the Democratic Party to the Rethuglican Party, and now the Teapublican Party. They are all one in the same. When they saw it was in their best interests to switch parties they did. I knew Sonny Perdue when he was a Democrat. i lived in Nathan Deal’s district when he was a Democrat. Yes the grandaddy of them all Murphy is gone, but these are those who followed him. It is nothing new. I was a Republican in Georgia when everyone else was a Democrat and then when Republicans wanted power in the south they used abortion and other social issues to win. (Which by the way, is the reason I am ‘No Longer Republican’)Please remember the crooks in Atlanta are the same as they always have been, just now they have an R next to their name.
clean up your yard
August 25th, 2011
6:15 pm
The same result as what we get from all the deregulatiion that has taken place in DC.
clean up your yard
August 25th, 2011
6:16 pm
Millions of Dems changed party when LBJ passed the civil rights legislation.
Bob
August 25th, 2011
6:17 pm
Folks, it’s not partisanship…it’s stupidity. Quit electing the most eloquent and best looking idiot, but look for substance and common sense, regardless of the party. Reading most of your comments, I wish some of you would run.
double
August 25th, 2011
6:20 pm
DannyX Centrist says he is atheist but sings kumbaya.If this is not a hypocrite.Claims to be centrist.Full blood pug.Could get papers on him.
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:22 pm
R U Kidding Me?’s comment was way back at 12:05, but what Federal law would a first-year law student get a conviction on Echols? Not that they could try a case anyway. Besides, if US Attorney Yate had done something, most southern conservatives would have screamed that the Obama Administration was on a witchhunt.
No Longer Republican
August 25th, 2011
6:25 pm
If Centrist is in the middle, I would HATE to see the far right!
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:33 pm
Applause for No Longer Republican. Southern conservatives are the real RINOs. These are the same Thurmond Dixiecrats who highjacked the Republican Party. They complain about their representatives, and try to blame their shortcomings in some form or fashion on those “intellectual elite liberals.”
The Centrist
August 25th, 2011
6:39 pm
No Longer Republican. Don’t mess with my after-namesake. You have to read what he says. He actually agrees with you. Echols is a skunk who won the PSA office as a Republican, but you don’t have to call him a skunky republican…now that is being partisan.
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:43 pm
Echols now realizes that he is not high enough up the southern conservative food chain. Most real southern conservative lap dogs can get some kind of ticket to something at the Masters, so they can where a hat or polo shirt with the Master’s logo on it. Silly SC…Tricks are for Kids.
Real Athens
August 25th, 2011
6:44 pm
Republicans? Dixiecrats?
How about Sneetches?
The Sneetches
An allegorical story for prejudice and discrimination, and also offers a lesson of materialism and entrepreneurship.
Sneetches are a group of vaguely avian yellow creatures who live on a beach. Some Sneetches have a green star on their bellies, and in the beginning of the story the absence of a star is the basis for discrimination. Sneetches who have stars on their bellies are part of the “in crowd,” while Sneetches without stars are shunned and consequently mopey.
In the story, a character named Sylvester McMonkey McBean, calling himself a “fix-it-up chappie,” appears, driving a cart of strange machines. He offers the Sneetches without stars a chance to have them by going through his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original star-bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their method for discriminating between Sneetches. Then McBean tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars. The Sneetches formerly with stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special.
However, McBean does not share the prejudices of the Sneetches, and allows the recently starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next,
“until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew
whether this one was that one… or that one was this one
or which one was what one… or what one was who.”
This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean departs a rich man, amused by their folly. Despite his assertion that “you can’t teach a Sneetch,” the Sneetches learn from this experience that neither plain-belly nor star-belly Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends.
Will we ever learn?
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:48 pm
Now folks. If you read…you will see that Echols, unlike most corrupt folks, didn’t get the deadline memo. Otherwise, Augusta National would have honored his request!!!
RGB
August 25th, 2011
6:50 pm
If this idiot had any self-respect, he’d resign tomorrow.
Nobody likes a bureaucrat using the police power of the state to hustle a couple of golf tickets. Republicans especially resent a bully government, so those of you with snide remarks about this guy being representative of all Republicans should go–well, I won’t say it.
Conservatives detest bullies who circumvent the law–which is why we oppose the current short-time resident of the White House so precipitously.
Echols should resign.
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:52 pm
Real Athens. Way too long just to same that those who individual make less than $50K per year (in todays dollares) and claim to be southern conservatives have been “punked” for generations.
Smoke
August 25th, 2011
6:53 pm
Why should Echols resign, since southern conservatives would replace him with “something” just as bad?