“I’m not perfect. Maybe I made a bad decision,” said District 1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter.

That was her response to the news breaking today that, immediately after she took office in January 2009, she and Chairman Charles Bannister pushed the first of many unneeded, inappropriate and overpriced land deals to benefit their friends and associates. This one involved a failed office development for which the County Commission paid $1.16 million to Randall Dixon, the developer who took Bannister on a Mississippi casino trip in 2005.

The newspaper’s new Gwinnett investigative unit, headed by Tim Eberly (teberly@ajc.com) has done a great job of exposing Bannister and Lasseter’s abuse of their authority. Eberly’s reports have spurred the call for a special grand jury, which must be approved by a majority of Gwinnett’s Superior Court judges. District Attorney Danny Porter wants to look into a half a dozen transactions in which the County Commission overpaid by millions for land that it did not need to politically-connected developers.

My solution to the problem would be for Bannister and Lasseter to resign immediately. Then we’ll talk about them reimbursing the county for the overpayments to their buddies from their personal funds.

Bannister has, to date, ignored my call for a moratorium on all discretionary land purchases until budget cuts to essential services are restored. Bannister received hundreds of emails from angry Gwinnett Gazette readers demanding a temporary ban on land deals in the face of massive cuts to police, fire and EMS services.

You should make sure that you are subscribed to the email newsletter because, very soon, we are going to demand again that this despicable waste of taxpayer dollars end. Your voice is needed to finally put a stop to this practice.

“I’m not perfect. Maybe I made a bad decision,” she said. “Maybe we should have had Lorraine Green vote on it.”

Doubts didn’t stop deal  | ajc.com

More on This Topic:

• Hocus Pocus, Shirley Needs to Focus
• A Failure to Lead: When Property Tax Cuts Go Wrong
• The Politics Behind the Dacula Library Closing
• Bannister Land Deals Claim First Victim
• Special Grand Jury for Land Deals a Big Deal