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Nathan Deal, Candidate for Governor, will be making a major announcement on the steps of the Gainesville Civic Center Monday morning, March 1, at 9 a.m. If you are a friend of Nathan Deal, please join us there tomorrow morning for some good news for his campaign, Hall County and Georgia. It would be great to have a big turnout there for this event.

Breaking: Deal says he’ll resign from Congress
9:04 am March 1, 2010, by Aaron Gould Sheinin

By Aaron Gould Sheinin/asheinin@ajc.com and Jim Tharpe/jtharpe@ajc.com

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) said Monday morning he will resign from Congress to “devote my full energies to the campaign for governor.”

Deal is one of seven Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor. He will resign from the U.S. House on March 8.

Deal, whose departure apparently voids a U.S. House ethics investigation into his business dealing with the state, announced his resignation at the Gainesville Civic Center before a crowd of about 100 supporters, who applauded his remarks.

“This is not a time for untested leadership in the governor’s office,” Deal said. “The economic future of our state is in peril.”

Deal becomes the second member of the state’s 13-seat congressional delegation to announce his retirement in the past few days. U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) announced on Saturday he won’t seek re-election in November.

Deal’s decision to resign from the U.S. House now, however, would set up a special election to fill the remainder of his term, which lasts through the November elections. At least six Republicans are already campaigning for the seat as Deal had already announced he would seek the governor’s office rather than run for re-election to Congress.

According to sparse independent polling, Deal is running among the top three candidates for the GOP nomination as governor, along with Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and former Secretary of State Karen Handel.

Deal has been the subject of two inquiries by congressional investigators into a Deal’s role in a business with the state that earned his company $1.5 million from 2004 through 2008. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in August that Deal and a business partner obtained the lucrative state business without competition and that Deal personally intervened with state officials to fight proposed changes to the operation.

The Office of Congressional Ethics and the U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct had contacted the state Department of Revenue for documents and interviews regarding Deal’s role in the business, records obtained by the AJC showed.

Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Monday that Deal’s resignation would essentially scuttle the investigation.

“Once he resigns from the House, the inquiry will end. The House won’t have jurisdiction over him any longer,” said Sloan, whose organization filed the ethics complaints with the U.S. House in response to the AJC’s original report.

Asked Monday whether his resignation from Congress had anything to do with the investigation, Deal said “absolutely not.” Deal had previously said he welcomed “an opportunity to state the facts” to congressional investigators, but that now apparently will not happen. Deal said Monday he can’t control that.

One of the highest honors of my life has been the privilege to serve the great people of North Georgia in the Congress of the United States.
My wife and my family join me in thanking you for your support and confidence which have allowed me to lead the fight to preserve the values that have made our nation great.
Having entered the campaign to become the next Governor of Georgia, I have worked very hard to balance the responsibilities of my current office with the demands of sharing my vision for our state.
The Bible teaches us that “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
I firmly believe that now is the season for me to devote my full energies to the campaign for governor.
I believe the people of my district, like all Georgians, know that this is a time that demands leadership. These are critical days for Georgia and my experience at the local, state and national level have uniquely prepared me to lead Georgia as we lead the nation out of the recession.
As governor, my first priority will be getting Georgians back to work while making sure that essential state services are maintained. Our state needs leadership on education, water, transportation, health care and public safety, which must be balanced against the financial crisis facing our state government.
Make no mistake, our Georgia values are at risk. I have stood up against those who do not share our conservative values and, I assure you, they have the governorship of the state of Georgia squarely in their sights.
I’m leaving Congress because I’ve had a front row seat to the damage that inexperience in the executive branch of the federal government has done to our nation…a growing debt that will bankrupt our children’s future, an ever increasing grasp by government that snatches away our freedom, and an effort to bargain away the rights of our state for a few crumbs of federal tax dollars that are packaged as stimulus.
My experience has prepared me to be a governor who understands these dangers. This is not a time for untested leadership in the governor’s office. The economic future of our state is in peril. I am committed and ready to serve this great state.
I love this state and I love its people. My Georgia roots are deep. As I have traveled from the mountains, where I live, to the piedmont, where I grew up and went to school, to the coastal plain, where I was born, my resolve to be governor has grown even stronger.
I will be a governor who will listen to you and consider your needs. Like the deep veins of granite and marble that undergird our state, I am rock solid in my dedication to the task at hand. I will lead with strength, tempered by a servant’s heart.
I invite you to join me, my family and an ever-expanding circle of friends on this quest to be the next Governor of Georgia. Together, we can reaffirm the values that have made us great, enrich the lives of our families and leave our children a state that is a prosperous beacon of hope for the future.
I ask for your vote. I invite you to share my vision and encourage you to join my campaign for governor.