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A visit to DeKalb County court this week was a jaunt to government’s

seamy underbelly.

BILL TORPY AT LARGE

Just got back from the Ellis trial. Anybody got handsanitizer?Posted: 6:00 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26, 2014

By Bill Torpy - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Former DeKalb procurement chief Kelvin Walton testified in front of the Boardof Shame, listing the tawdry details of how he came to snitch on former bossBurrell Ellis. BRANT SANDERLIN / [email protected]

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LOCAL GOVT & POLITICS

Just got back from the Ellis trial. Anybody got hand sanitizer? |... http://www.myajc.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/just-got-b...

1 of 6 10/24/14 8:00 PM

Throughout testimony that made him seem byturns venal and pathetically insecure, suspendedDeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis stared unflappablyahead. KENT ... Read More

Bill Torpy

There at the front of Judge Courtney Johnson’s courtroom, his

countenance dour, sat one Kelvin Walton, a well-dressed, sad-eyed plug

of a man. Strategically positioned behind Walton, the star witness in the

corruption case against suspended county CEO Burrell Ellis, was the

Board of Shame. On it, prosecutors had scribbled the events in 2012

that led him to this perch: May 2, lied to Special Purpose Grand Jury;

May 10, confronted by DA; Aug 12, wearing a wire.

On those secretly

recorded tapes, Walton

comes across as a

fawning, eager-

to-please yes man. On

this day in court, he

was was testifying

about why Ellis, the guy

he sucked up to on the

tapes — who stared

unflappably ahead

throughout his

testimony — should be convicted of extortion and conspiracy.

Walton is a weak-minded fellow with some larceny in his heart, which is

not a good thing when you also oversee contract procurement for a

large metro county.

Investigators were already fishing for corruption in DeKalb when they

nailed Walton for lying about getting some freebies (tree work at home

from a contractor). From there, it was short work to turn him into an

informer.

Maybe while they were

at it, they should have

invested in lessons for

Walton at the Tony

Danza Acting School.

The tapes show him as

a sometimes overly

suggestive subordinate,

sort of an Igor to Dr.

Frankenstein, throwing

out possible ways to

retaliate against

contractors who were unwilling to contribute to Ellis’ re-election

campaign.

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2 of 6 10/24/14 8:00 PM

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Ellis’ defense team seized upon that, saying Walton twisted

conversations to make Ellis appear conniving.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t look good so far for Ellis. He is either a venal

shakedown artist, as prosecutors claim, or a manipulative, hyper-

sensitive pol. At best, he comes across like an insecure junior high girl

whose Sadie Hawkins date has blown her off.

It was fall 2012, and

Ellis was heading to

sure re-election. But he

owed a couple hundred

grand, having

overspent two months

earlier to beat two

marginal opponents in

the Democratic

primary, the election in

DeKalb that counts.

The tapes show a close

relationship between

the CEO and his

procurement director. At one point, Walton, who wears monogrammed

shirts with gleaming cuff links, apparently gave the usually impeccably

dressed Ellis fashion advice. “You wearing that?” Walton asked Ellis as

the latter prepared to attend some event.

If only the informer had been wearing a video camera instead of

secretly toting a digital voice recorder. (His recorder pen had

unfortunately punked out.)

But then, according to

the tape, the pair went

back to more pressing

business — Ellis’ ire that

a Cobb County vendor

was not returning his

calls soliciting political

donations.

“They can’t not be

returning calls,” Ellis

said to the

ever-agreeing Walton.


3 of 6 10/24/14 8:00 PM

Walton said he’d tell the county purchasing department to no longer

use the company.

“Yeah, just let (the contract) expire,” Ellis said, telling Walton to put a

note in the company’s file saying the owners were non-responsive.

The tapes capture Ellis at a time when the mayor-like boss of this

county of 700,000 residents was heading to a second four-year term

and thinking about his legacy. He wasn’t thinking small, casting himself

in the role of a latter-day Maynard Jackson, using county contracts like a

rising tide to lift a lot of minority-business boats.

“We have to think about the vision,” the Wharton School grad told

Walton, holding up the example of the fabled Atlanta mayor and H.J.

Russell, the African American construction firm that long has been an

iconic minority business success.

“We can make some millionaires,” Ellis told Walton.

As an example of an opportunity missed, Ellis brought up a minority

builder who came in second during a bidding process and could have

been drawn into the mix.

“It started me thinking there should be more minorities here,” he said.

“Here’s an example of a brother who went before that commission and

nobody gave him a second thought.”

“Someone has to grab me,” Walton implored, saying he doesn’t

automatically recognize which firms are minority owned.

“I’m about to bring a couple strong brothers in this government,” Ellis

said. “ I think the next (chief operating officer) is going to be a brother.”

The next county attorney, too, he said would be a “brother.”

Then he quickly added, “I’m looking for the best people.”

Seven months later, the chief operating officer, Ted Rhinehart, who is

white, left for private business. He could not be reached to talk about

why he left. The current COO is black, as is the current county attorney,

who also came six months after Ellis’ statement, although Ellis would

consider her a “sister.”

But, according to Walton, Ellis’ desire to enrich minority contractors

had very definite limits.

He cited a firm whose owners enraged Ellis by not returning his


4 of 6 10/24/14 8:00 PM

solicitation calls. “NPI was a minority contractor, and we were about to

dry them up,” the snitch testified.

Another witness, Terry Merrell, gave a glimpse of how unsettling the

DeKalb Way could be to an outsider not accustomed to it. Merrell, a

God-fearing Hoosier, runs a firm that landed a $5 million county

contract that included spreading waste-water sludge over fields.

He testified that Ellis asked him for $25,000 in campaign contributions.

In the same conversation, Merrell said, Ellis also suggested that he

could personally intercede to smooth out some very aggravating

problems Merrell’s company was having with a local sub-contractor.

“What he said next just sent shivers through my spine,” Merrell testified.

“He said ‘Do you want me to make a phone call?’ and I said, ‘No, I don’t

want you to make a phone call.’ I didn’t want any part of that.”

Ellis, whose defense team has yet to present its case, has pleaded not

guilty. He has said he did nothing more than all big-time politicians

must do: raise money to run for office. He has said no coercion,

improper inducements or retaliation were involved.

A jury will soon sort it all out.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the

iconic Atlanta construction firm. It is H.J. Russell.

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