ATLANTA - While in Congress, Republican Nathan Deal lobbied Georgia's attorney general and top environmental officials to allow development of a landfill that he and his business partner wanted next to their Gainesville auto salvage yard, according to e-mails and memos obtained by The Associated Press.
The meetings in 2005 and 2006 bear some similarity to Deal's contacts with another top state official regarding his auto salvage business a few years later that sparked a congressional ethics probe. That investigation concluded Deal may have violated U.S. House rules banning members of Congress from using their office for personal gain.
Deal, now the GOP nominee for governor, was part owner of some of the property included in the Hall County landfill proposal and he signed applications seeking state solid waste handling permits for the project, records show.
Deal, through a spokesman, denied any financial interest in the development.
The documents, obtained through open records requests, show Deal tried in 2005 to persuade Attorney General Thurbert Baker to interpret state law in a way that would allow the landfill to move forward. They also indicate Deal's congressional chief of staff, Chris Riley, was keeping close tabs, communicating with state officials through his U.S. House e-mail account and sitting in on high-level meetings.
Deal, who resigned from Congress in March to run for governor, finds himself in a close contest with Democrat Roy Barnes in a state that easily went for John McCain in 2008. A poll taken a month ago showed Deal with a narrow lead. That was before reports surfaced that Deal was in financial trouble and put his home on the market to satisfy a business loan he co-signed for his daughter and son-in-law.
Deal's business partner, Ken Cronan, began seeking permission to build a landfill despite a state law prohibiting more than three landfills within a two-mile radius, according to Hall County records and state officials.
Deal met with the attorney general on Jan. 18, 2005, the records show. In a follow-up memo to Senior Assistant Attorney General John Hennelly, Deal thanks Hennelly and Baker for the meeting and makes his case why the state law should not apply to the proposed landfill. He asks whether the state Board of Natural Resources could craft a rule allowing the project to move forward. Deal also requests guidance on how the law might be changed.
"Lastly, in the event the current law does not allow the permit to be issued, your thoughts on appropriate legislative language would be appreciated, since we understand that the basic statute may be dealt with this session of the General Assembly," Deal wrote in the memo.
In a statement provided to the AP on Wednesday, Baker, a Democrat, said "it was our determination that, contrary to the Congressman's position, his property neither was nor should be exempted from state statute."
"And we also declined to draft legislative language for the Congressman that would exempt his property from the environmental protections in place," the attorney general said.
In an earlier e-mail, Hennelly told the attorney general that Deal and then-state Sen. Casey Cagle had already met with officials from the state Environmental Protection Division to discuss amending state law to allow the landfill to be approved. Cagle is now Georgia's lieutenant governor. A spokesman for Cagle said he attended a single meeting in his role as a legislator working on a constituent project in his legislative district. Cagle and Deal are both from Gainesville.
Deal's campaign declined to make the former congressman available.
Spokesman Brian Robinson said Deal had no financial interest in the proposal and that the 101 acres that would comprise the actual landfill have been owned solely by Cronan. Hall County records show that Cronan has been the sole owner of the land since November 2003.
But Hall County records also show Deal was part owner of several parcels of land that were included in local rezoning applications for the landfill. In 2007 and 2008, Deal - along with Cronan - also signed notarized applications for solid waste handling permits with the state Environmental Protection Division.
In June 2007, Hall County records list the applicant for the landfill rezoning request as Gainesville Salvage Disposal, which Cronan and Deal co-own.
Gainesville Waste and Recycling is listed as the applicant on state paperwork. Deal and Cronan were each originally listed as organizers of the company in 2007 but in 2008 Deal's name was removed, with an explanation that it been listed erroneously.
Robinson said the 32 acres of Deal-owned property was eventually removed from the applications and should never have been included in the first place.
A Washington-based watchdog group criticized Deal for engaging in the same type of conduct that drew the attention of congressional investigators earlier this year.
"This is more of the same from Congressman Deal," said Melanie Sloan, executive director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Sloan said House rules prohibit members of Congress from using their congressional office for personal financial benefit.
"It's always unethical to call a meeting with someone when you have a financial interest," Sloan said. "This would be a clear violation of House rules."
The Deal campaign maintains that neither he nor his salvage company stood to benefit and the project was backed by Hall County officials.
CREW filed an ethics complaint against Deal in 2009 that led to a report issued earlier this year by the Office of Congressional Ethics. That report looked at Deal's meetings in 2008 and 2009 with state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham to preserve a state vehicle inspection program at Deal's Gainesville auto salvage business. Those meetings were first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Deal resigned from Congress in March before the House Committee on Official Standards could decide whether to pursue the matter. Deal has denied any wrongdoing and was never fined or faced any charges of wrongdoing.
Because Deal is no longer in Congress, any questions surrounding the landfill would now fall outside the committee's jurisdiction.
Records show Cronan began seeking approval in 2002 for a construction and demolition landfill that would accept things like asphalt, shingles, steel and wood. The new landfill would be on property next to Deal and Cronan's auto salvage business. The plan was to place the new debris on top of an old municipal waste landfill that had been dormant for years.
Cronan three times won rezoning approval from county officials to move the project forward, but then ran into roadblocks. State environmental officials cited the state law limiting how many landfills may be placed in a particular area. Additionally, there were concerns about piling additional waste on top of an old, unlined landfill that could contain hazardous and toxic materials.
Deal and his aide, Riley, met with then-state Environmental Protection Division chief Carol Couch on March 23, 2006, according to a memo from Couch.
In that March, 31, 2006, memo to Deal, Couch worried about possible groundwater contamination and the physical stability of the site if 30 more feet of debris was piled on top of it.
Couch, who now teaches at The University of Georgia's School of Environmental Design, told The Associated Press she believes Riley initiated the meeting.
But Couch, who was named to her post by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, said she felt no particular pressure because of Deal's post as congressman.
"It is, in fact, appropriate that we meet with individuals seeking permits to identify issues or problems," Couch told The AP.
"To us he was another customer seeking approval of a permit."
In a Sept. 23 interview, Cronan denied involvement with the landfill - despite his name or his company's being listed on multiple documents and permits associated with the site. Asked if he had put in a request in 2007 for a solid waste transfer station on the landfill site, Cronan replied: "No, it was not me."
But that statement is contradicted in a letter to Cronan from Hall County Government Board of Commissioners. The applicant - listed as Gainesville Salvage Disposal - sought a solid waste transfer station but was rejected. Cronan did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Riley, who is now campaign manager in Deal's bid for governor - was kept in the loop even on small details of the project. And he met not just with Deal and state officials but also with Cronan and state environmental officials on the matter.
In a Sept. 12, 2007, e-mail from his House account sent to Jeff Cown at the state Environmental Protection Division, Riley sent along files from county zoning officials. He continued that he had met with the county engineer and counsel and promised to forward along additional documents to the state for the project. The e-mail is signed by Riley as Deal's chief of staff.
Riley declined a request for an interview.
Robinson said Riley was working on behalf of a constituent, in this case Cronan.
In May, Cronan won his solid waste permit from the state.
Bill Hodges, an engineer and the project manager who works for Cronan, said that they plan to excavate the old landfill and recycle portions of it at the new landfill. He expected it would move forward soon after some issues are resolved with the recycling element.
On Tuesday, Fox-5 Atlanta reported that Deal and Riley tried to persuade Hall County officials to take over maintenance of a private road that runs past Deal's auto salvage yard and ends at the landfill.
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August 10th, 2025
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