First and foremost, let me state on the record that I have ultimate respect for Fox 5 investigative television reporter Dale Russell. I consider Dale both a friend and a colleague. He plays an important journalistic watchdog role in holding government officials accountable. Most of the time, Dale gets it right.

But like all of us, once in awhile he gets it wrong, too. Unfortunately for Russell, his "expose" on Denise Deal's role in her father-in-law's gubernatorial campaign looks like a classic "hit piece" of the worst kind. 

That's what they do at the National Enquirer. 

Russell's first story about Denise Deal's $90,000 campaign payment from the Nathan Deal For Governor campaign for fundraising services ran on Thursday, May 12 – just before the Georgia Republican Party convention in Macon. At the time, Gov. Deal was supporting his friend, Tricia Pridemore, for state GOP Chairman over two-term incumbent, Sue Everhart, and former Fulton County Chairman Shawn Hanley. The race was tightening in the final days, and the timing of Fox 5's initial telecast seemed suspect, to say the least. Certainly the story gave ammunition -- and much needed momentum -- for the anti-Deal forces on the eve of the state convention. While I'm convinced after talking with a Fox 5 senior executive the timing was out of Russell's hands -- and just a coincidence perpetrated by a bizarre comedy of internal errors -- it undoubtedly gave the appearance of a politically motivated report to embarrass the new governor the night before his own convention.

But Russell's follow-up story last night is the real embarrassment -- not for the Deal family -- but for Russell himself. 

His latest piece provided no new information, its sole purpose seemingly to tar and feather Deal and his staff for refusing to give him an interview, and for banning his station from gaining access to the governor's historic signing of the state's controversial immigration legislation the day after his first report hit the airwaves.

Russell aired a story last night -- that wasn't a story. Whining on television that you can't get an interview and then replaying the same footage is an intimidation tactic.  When you do a follow-up story with no new facts, no new "smoking gun" and no new earth shattering revelations -- simply to defend and justify your first report -- that smacks of a story in search of a punchline.

THE REAL DEAL FACTS – WAS DENISE QUALIFIED?

Here are the real facts of Denise Deal's involvement -- and payments earned – in the 2010 Nathan Deal for Governor campaign.

Denise Deal [pictured left] is married to Nathan Deal's son, Jason Deal, a well-respected Superior Court Judge in Hall County. Denise -- highly educated, savvy, poised, well connected and very smart -- is her own woman. Her professional background is accomplished, deep and thoroughly documented.

Ms. Deal was a key executive at the Hall County Chamber of Commerce, where she authored the county's 20-30-year long-range economic development plan. She was named one of Georgia Trends top 40 professionals under 40. Ms. Deal has worked on Capitol Hill. She was a commercial and industrial marketing rep at Jackson Electric Membership Corp., and worked as a lobbyist with the Atlanta Apartment Association covering state and local affairs and for the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation. Denise Deal has a B.S. in Agricultural Communications from UGA and a Masters from Brenau University. So suffice it to say the woman is educated and experienced. Was Denise Deal qualified to serve professionally in the Deal for Gov. campaign? Yes.

DENISE'S EVOLVING CAMPAIGN ROLES

Ms. Deal's initial involvement in the Deal for Governor campaign was as an unpaid volunteer as the effort was getting off the ground in 2009. Before the campaign staffed up in early 2010, there were only a handful of paid staffers at the Gainesville office, led by Chris Riley, campaign manager, Harris Blackwood, press secretary and Denise Deal. Ms. Deal was paid $16,000 for office management work she performed in 2009. Ms. Deal worked full-time and did what most campaign aides do: answered the phone, lined up events, got the candidate where he needed to be on-time, fetched the coffee, talked to supporters, whatever. It's the nature of the beast: long hours, low pay. Certainly Denise Deal could have made more money doing another job -- but her father in-law was running for governor -- so she stepped up and did what she needed to do.

As Deal's candidacy progressed toward the July 2010 primary, his campaign promoted Denise to a fundraising role. She earned a salary of about $33,333 over the course of that stint in late 2009 and early 2010. Ms. Deal proved her fundraising prowess by organizing a $1 million fundraiser in May, 2009. 

When Deal made it to the August run-off, finishing a distant second to former Sec. of State Karen Handel in the first ballot primary voting, they knew they had to raise a ton of money to win the next round -- and if they won that -- they'd need a lot more cash to compete with the well funded Roy Barnes – who breezed to an easy Democrat primary victory and avoided a costly run-off.

So the Deal campaign brain trust looked at their options and asked Denise to take on the critical role of campaign finance director. She had the contacts, the experience, the knowledge and the work ethic: plus she was raising money as a salaried campaign staffer. Ms. Deal had a track record. 

The Deal camp needed to move fast and get someone in place they could rely on and trust. They asked Ms. Deal and she accepted the challenge. Strapped for cash, rather than up her salary, they offered Denise a 10 percent commission on the money the campaign raised under her fundraising leadership. If you understand how campaigns work, 10 percent commission is at the low end of a standard fundraising arrangement. The big fundraising firms get 12 percent. Ms. Deal agreed to the lower figure, and went straight to work. And work she did. She helped raise over $900,000 in campaign donations from the time she assumed the role of campaign finance director.

This earned her fundraising firm -- Southern Magnolia Capital -- $90,000 in commission, which she was paid. But in reality, if Ms. Deal had the standard fundraising commission arrangement in 2009 in lieu of her modest salary, she would have been due $190,000. Ms. Deal agreed to go with the salary to save the cash strapped campaign money. But that's what family members do for each other.

So much for Russell's "nepotism" allegation. It's more like "reverse nepotism." Being part of the Deal clan cost Denise a cool hundred large.

By contrast, Nathan Deal's other fundraising company, Capital Strategy Group, was paid over $310,000 by the Deal campaign for the money they raised, with a current balance due of $25,000. That brings their total fundraising commission to $335,000 -- 3.5X more than what Ms. Deal earned for her part. 

The Deal for Governor campaign raised over $8 million since its inception in the spring of 2009.

The other specter Russell attempted to raise -- did Ms. Deal do the work -- is equally as suspect.

Unlike Russell, I covered the Deal campaign in-depth from January to November. As a journalist, I often ask for permission to attend candidate fundraisers to make contact with the various campaigns and to gain access to other political leaders in Georgia. I attended fundraisers for Karen Handel, Austin Scott, Eric Johnson, John Oxendine and Nathan Deal. For Deal, each time I had to call Denise for permission and get her personal clearance. I attended eight Deal for governor events around the state during the campaign cycle from July to November. In every case, Denise was there first. She set up the room, organized the donation table and worked the crowd, seeking additional contacts, referrals and more donations. Ms. Deal wore a huge plated name tag at every event: "Denise Deal / Deal For Governor Finance Director."

There was never any doubt that Denise Deal was in charge of finance and fundraising for the Deal campaign. Her role was open, transparent, upfront and candid. Luckily for me, as a working correspondent, she couldn’t ask me for any money. But she asked everybody else she came in contact with. Plus, I observed Ms. Deal working her cell phone for donations during any moment of down time she had during the events I attended.

Ms. Deal told me in August she had an average of three fundraising events per day, seven days a week. Truth be told, she worked non-stop.

If I were running a campaign, Denise Deal as the chief fundraiser would be my first hire. 10 percent is a bargain for this woman.

She made her $90,000 the old fashioned way: she earned it. Where's the beef there?

DEBUNKING THE RUSSEL PIECE

"What Dale Russell said on television was ludicrous," offered one former Deal campaign staffer, who was not authorized to talk to the press on campaign matters. "He's either got an agenda or he is just ignorant of the facts and how statewide campaigns typically work."

Brian Robinson, who serves as deputy chief of staff in the Deal administration, was previously the campaign director of communications. "Denise was well qualified, she did an outstanding job and she was compensated accordingly," Robinson said.

Russell states that Denise Deal didn't have any other fundraising clients – not that it matters anyway -- in fact she also raised money for state senators Butch Miller and Jeff Mullis. But that is moot. She did the job, and she got paid. Who cares what other clients she has or doesn’t have? It's irrelevant.

As far as Denise Deal's name not being readily available on her company documents, who cares? Every journalist in Georgia who extensively covered the 2010 gubernatorial campaign knew that Denise Deal was the primary fundraising executive for the Nathan Deal camp after the July primary. The company apparatus through which she took payment would only be a story if you never saw Denise out working in public. Besides, her email domain address is "SouthernMagnoliaCapital.com." Maybe if Russell attempted to email her he could have saved himself a trip to the Gainesville post office to check out various P.O. boxes.

THE BANNING OF FOX NEWS

Perhaps grasping at straws, Russell then rolled the footage of being denied entry to the immigration bill signing event. Robinson, whose primary job is to serve and defend the governor, asked for an apology. Russell refused, and the rest is history. While no one in the media likes to get banished by an elected official, it happens all the time in our trade. For example, I wrote one column on Roy Barnes in March 2010 that his campaign didn't like -- and no one in the Barnes camp ever returned another phone call or an email from any of our writers again.

When asked about the confrontation, Deal administration press secretary Stephanie Mayfield was succinct in defending the staff's actions. "They messed with the governor's family with no facts," Mayfield said. "How would you like it if they did that to your family?" Mayfield called Russell's story "crap."

Sometimes you follow a story and find out -- you have no story.

Therein lies Russell's dilemma. He went with a lousy story, and now he's stuck with it.

For Nathan Deal it's really easy: he hired the best executive he could find at the time for campaign finance director -- and hit a home run.

As for Denise Deal, she's a victim – of her own performance.

FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS - FROM DISCLOSURE DOCUMENTS

Below is an accounting of exactly what Ms. Deal raised and how she was compensated, along with the other Deal for Governor fundraising company, Capital Strategies Group.

Deal for Governor (DFG) paid Denise Deal (DD) a salary in 2010 of $33,333.31 (gross)
DFG paid DD a salary in 2009 of $16,667.00 (gross)
DFG paid Southern Magnolia Capital  $50,000 – August 5, 2010
DFG paid Southern Magnolia Capital  $40,000 – November 2010
DFG paid Southern Magnolia Capital $14,000 – January 2011 for 10% gross receipts earned from a  Dec.14 Fundraising Event at Ansley Golf Club
 

May 2009 – first DFG FR – DD raised $1,000,000

Post  July Primary –DD was named Finance Director for the DFG Campaign and went from salary to commission.

Capital Strategy Group
 
DFG paid Capital Strategy Corp. the following:
Katie Miller – Salary for  2009                      $17,044.44
Katie Miller – mileage 2009                          $  3,342.48
Katie Miller – Salary for 2010                       $26,608.00
Katie Miller – mileage 2010                          $  3,546.35
Hayley Howell –  Salary for 2009                  $13,797.56
Hayley Howell – mileage 2009                      $  638.85
Hayley Howell – Salary for 2010                    $26,582.88
Hayley Howell – mileage 2010                       $     301.69
Lindsay Perdue –  Salary for 2009                $11,841.48
Lindsay Perdue – mileage 2009                    $     692.48
Lindsay Perdue – Salary for 2010                 $26,599.38
Lindsay Perdue – mileage for 2010               $2,399.04
Winning Bonus to Capital Strategies in November $75,000 ($50,000 has been paid with the remainder payable during the 2011 calendar year)
Total paid to  Capital Strategies for 2009 (for the 10% gross receipts) $32,787.37

Total paid to CS for 2010 (this is the 10% of gross receipts) $145,024.19 (includes the $50k paid in 2010 for winning bonus)
 
Total Paid to CS in 2009                  $80,144.66
Total Paid to CS in 2010                  $231,061.53
 
DFG will pay Capital Strategies $25,000 over the course of the next two months.
 
DFG raised over $8,000,000