Evans Resigns DOT Post, Admitting Relationship With Commissioner

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(4/18/08) DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans, who provided the key vote last October to put Gena Abraham in the commissioner's chair and later survived an attempt by House Speaker Glenn Richardson to dump him, resigned as chairman and as a board member Thursday, admitting he had developed a relationship with Abraham.

The dating relationship did not develop until after Abraham was elected commissioner and after his own re-election to the board, he told a Gainesville Times reporter later Thursday. More on that in a bit.

Board policy does not permit personal relationships in the chain of command, he said.

The board quickly scheduled a special meeting for April 21st without saying what it was about. Vice Chairman Garland Pinholster, who moves up to the chairmanship position until board officer elections are held in June, said the meeting would be about what Abraham would do.

"The ball is in her court," he said.

We've heard conflicting reports about whether Abraham offered her resignation during one of a series of closed-door meetings which both preceded and occurred during the middle of Thursday's regular board meeting. One source told us she offered her resignation and it was turned down by the board. Another told us she offered the resignation during the board's executive session and it was not turned down, but she withdrew it before the meeting was opened to the public.

Both Evans and Abraham are single. Nevertheless, the development comes as a major embarrassment for Gov. Sonny Perdue, who recommended Abraham for the commissioner's post and pulled out all the stops to get her elected and who also defended Evans against the Speaker's effort to oust him.

For at least the next few days until this resolves itself, it also casts a cloud over the governor's effort through Abraham to modernize and improve the operations of the department.

There was no immediate comment from the governor's office.

Here is a sound clip and what follows is the transcript of the statement which Evans read during the board meeting, which finally took place some 2 and a half hours after it was scheduled to begin:

"Over the last five months I've worked closely with Commissioner Abraham to work toward change within this department.

"Over the course of those five months I've grown to admire and respect her more and more every day. Her sense of integrity and work ethic is well known throughout the state and I can certainly see why.

"Over the last month or so we have developed a relationship that we both want to be more than just professional. She's become my friend. As that friendship developed, we realized there was a possibility of something more than just a friendship. At that point, about two weeks ago, I went to Vice Chairman Pinsholster to discuss - along with the commissioner - to discuss that and the best direction to go.

"We concluded at the time two weeks ago that it was best to inform the board, and that was done yesterday in executive session.

"DOT policy does not permit, as most of you know, relationships other than professional or friendship within the direct chain of command. As chairman of the board, I strongly believe that the chairman should be the model for respect and adherance to that policy and I wish to see that in all GDOT employees, certainly with the challenges that we face.

"In doing so, I must, therefore, today tendered my resignation as chairman and as member of this Department of Transportation Board."

Evans also apologized to the House members who defied Richardson and voted for his re-election several months ago during the legislative caucus in which he won re-election. DOT board members are elected by caucuses of state legislators from the congressional districts in which they served. Richardson stripped four House members of their committee assignments and stripped one of his Capitol office.

Evans said:

"My heart is certainly heavy today because I know that by tendering my resignation, I am disappointing a great number of people who have supported me throughout the years and particularly during my election a couple months ago. There are those who suffered great losses in support of me and for that I will be eternally grateful for their support. I will spend, I guess, the rest of my days trying to restore that trust and gaining their forgiveness for having stepped down at this point in my term."

Later, Evans told The Gainesville Times' Harris Blackwood that he and Abraham did not begin a dating relationship until after she had been elected commissioner and he had been re-elected to the board.

"If I had known on the day I was re-elected that this was a possibility, or if it had been something we talked about, I would not have sought re-election," he was quoted as saying.

Evans said he and Abraham joined a few members of the House and Senate on their first public dates. When they began to realize that the relationship was evolving into something more, they met with Pinholster to discuss it, he said.