Anonymous ID: 44b8b4 Jan. 2, 2021, 9:28 p.m. No.12290480   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0500 >>0773 >>0935

Georgia elections manager left state job, got $200K per year contract

 

The man who oversees Georgia’s voting system, Gabriel Sterling, negotiated a $200,000 per year contract for himself last year, quit his state government job and has worked as an independent contractor ever since.

 

Under the arrangement, Sterling’s pay increased from his $114,000 government salary since November 2019, when he took on the role of project manager for the purchase and rollout of the state’s new voting equipment. State election officials say as a contractor, the government didn’t have to pay benefits, such as health insurance.

 

Though he’s a contractor, Sterling has become the face of Georgia elections, leading press conferences debunking election conspiracy theories, criticizing mistakes by county election officials and calling out President Donald Trump for inciting threats against election workers, proclaiming “this has to stop.”

 

Sterling, a lifelong Republican, even drew praise from Democrats for his comments, and he received flowers and handwritten notes from voters across the country.

 

But his independent status prompted questions from state legislators and critics who have asked why oversight of the state’s voting machines is being managed outside Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s payroll.

 

Sterling’s contract, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Georgia Open Records Act, expires Thursday after the state’s voting equipment has been used in several elections this year. Sterling will then return to the secretary of state’s office, resuming his previous role as chief operating officer.

 

The secretary of state’s office awarded the contract to Sterling under an emergency procurement without a competitive bidding process, said Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs. The government needed someone to manage the quick installation of voting equipment in time for this year’s elections, adding a paper ballot to Georgia elections for the first time in 18 years, she said.

 

“From my point of view, they did get a good deal with me for the taxpayers,” Sterling said in an interview. “We got the whole thing rolled out in the middle of a pandemic and had a record turnout at the same time. I’m going to walk away from that role feeling pretty good.”

 

Election officials decided to make Sterling a contractor after struggling to find a project manager to handle the state’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems, Fuchs said. The government had considered hiring engineering consultants or military logistics experts for the job, but they weren’t willing to take on the work within the $500,000 to $1 million price range the state was considering.

 

With a deadline to deliver over 30,000 voting machines before the primary election, Sterling became a contractor, paid from a $150 million bond for the voting system state lawmakers approved. The secretary of state’s office hired another contractor to take on the financial management duties of Sterling’s old job.

 

Sterling became a contractor because the money was available from the bond, and he couldn’t handle the heavy workload of both his former and new duties, Fuchs said.

 

State representatives questioned Sterling about his contract during a committee meeting last week as they demanded answers from the secretary of state’s office about how officials ran the presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won by roughly 12,000 votes over Trump.

 

“If citizens don’t trust that their vote counts and that casting their vote means something, that’s a problem and it has to be fixed immediately,” said state Rep. Micah Gravley, a Republican from Douglasville on the committee. “Every avenue needs to be explored and remedied as soon as possible.”

 

Gravley said he wasn’t familiar with the details of Sterling’s contract.

 

Under it, Sterling has been paid $8,333 twice monthly compared to the $4,760 per pay period as a state employee. As a contractor, Sterling is responsible for his own benefits, retirement savings and taxes.

 

https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-elections-manager-left-state-job-got-200k-per-year-contract/WA74UJ5BQNGDDMQXITVIBZZXFI/

Anonymous ID: 44b8b4 Jan. 2, 2021, 10:08 p.m. No.12290858   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0880 >>0935

George Santos

@Santos4Congress

 

My fiancé & I had to leave our home this evening with our 4 dogs thanks to the @nytimes publishing of my Instagram showing me attending the #MarALago New Year’s Eve party. My fiancé a pharmacist who worked 12h/7days shifts for 9 months was fired! The violence against us is real.

 

https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1345555552244523008