An ethics investigation has cleared Alpharetta Councilman Doug DeRito from any conflict of interest in a pair of cases where he helped get big-money help for his city high school's athletics programs. DeRito said the charges were politically motivated and called for a change to the city's ethics code.  Council members and Alpharetta parents at the nearly-full council meeting lined up to bash the TV report that first made public charges against DeRito. The only dissent came from Mayor Arthur Letchas, who opined that under the code, the councilman entered a gray area.

DeRito did nothing wrong when he pitched a sponsorship of Alpharetta High School's electronic scoreboard to the Alpharetta Convention and Visitors Bureau, concluded City Attorney Sam Thomas. Thomas surmised, after numerous interviews, that DeRito only made a preliminary presentation and then turned over negotiations to the officers of AHS' booster club.

And on the charge of strong-arming a developer into donating $120,000 in works on a field, Thomas said, "it might be there's the appearance of impropriety, but I think you can't sustain it."

The developer, Thomas Enterprises, was in the middle of planning works on the Prospect Park project and often appeared in front of the Planning Commission and City Council when the grading work happened. 
In 2007, DeRito voted against Thomas Enterprises' plan to increase density on the project.
Later, in April 2008, DeRito and the whole council approved a different density proposal: moving some square footage from Prospect Park to an adjacent development in the works.  

DeRito said his vote changed -- joining all six other council members -- in order to keep the precarious project running.

EMAIL FROM THOMAS CHASTISES DERITO FOR NO QUID PRO QUO

In fact, DeRito argued, Thomas Enterprises' Kevin Case was a bit disappointed by getting no quid pro quo from the councilman and presented late 2009 text messages and email exchanges between Case and former Alpharetta Councilwoman Debbie Gibson, then a private citizen, as evidence. According to the emails, Case lamented to Gibson that DeRito in effect sold him out by requiring the developer to make costly safety repairs to their 2009 decaying parking garage. Case wrote in his email, referring to the in-kind Alpharetta High School donation, "What a short memory (DeRito) has."

DeRito contended his arch political nemesis, Gibson, stirred up the trouble for him. DeRito was the only incumbent not to endorse Gibson in her re-election defeat at the hands of Councilwoman Cheryl Oakes in 2007. Gibson agitated for the investigation at a previous council meeting -- but did not show up when results were released on Tuesday night. 

LETCHAS BAILS ON DERITO, STOOD ALONE

Alpharetta Mayor Letchas said that his council members need to read and reread the ethics code. It's so far-reaching, he opined, that the council probably violates it at every meeting, and concluded that DeRito definitely stepped into a gray area. 

But Letchas stood alone. Several council members spoke on DeRito's behalf, including Mayor Pro-Tem D.C. Aiken, who blasted the T.V news story as scurrilous, harmful and unfounded. Aiken's impassioned speech also put into question the motives of those who trumped the charges up. in addition, several high profile community leaders showed up at the council chambers to speak in support of DeRito's actions, including Alpharetta High School Principal Mary Anne Charron, who hailed DeRtio as a friend of local education, and Raiders football coach Jamie Dukes, who called the councilman a man of unwavering honor and integrity. 

More in this Sunday's Beacon.