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Republican state Sen. Barry Loudermilk of Cassville rejected a call by Democrats for him to resign over an $80,000 legislative settlement.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “From what I understand, it sounds like a bunch of people using this as a political wedge.”

The chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia called Wednesday, Sept. 28, for a federal investigation into an $80,000 settlement to a former Senate secretary shared by Loudermilk and state Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick.

Mike Berlon held a press conference at party headquarters to demand to know the reasons for the settlement that the Senate refuses to disclose. The General Assembly is exempt from the state open-records law, and Senate officials have said the matter is confidential because it relates to a personnel matter.

“We’re getting a stone wall on the other side,” Berlon said.

The settlement was with Ethel Blackmon, a black woman who was assigned as secretary to the two white senators. She left her job during the third week of the legislative session, telling some Democratic senators it was because of racial discrimination and comments made to her.

Berlon argues that discrimination is a violation of Senate rules that should be investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee beyond the issue of taxpayer funds squandered on an avoidable settlement.

Loudermilk and Ligon issued statements denying any discrimination or knowledge of a settlement. Ligon said he does not know details of the alleged complaint.

“Frankly, I don’t know, because I don’t sit on that committee,” he said. “She did work for us for a very short period of time, but we didn’t discriminate against her or anyone else.”

The President Pro Tempore of the Senate oversees the office and the daily administration of the Senate, and he chairs the Committee on Administrative Affairs that agreed to the settlement.

State Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, the current pro tempore, hasn’t commented on the allegations. His chief of staff, Nathan Humphrey, said keeping the details of the settlement confidential is no different from any other personnel matter.

“It is irresponsible for someone who does not have any factual knowledge of these matters to continue to make inaccurate and inflammatory accusations,” he said.

Loudermilk expressed his frustration in a telephone interview.

“I feel like I’ve been dragged down the street, and that’s all I know,” he said. “I don’t get a choice of my secretary. That’s above my pay grade.”

The Senate Human Resources Office hires, fires and assigns secretaries. Senior senators are allowed input, but both Loudermilk and Ligon are freshmen.

Berlon acknowledged that he has little information and that he’s willing to apologize to the senators if he’s wrong. Disclosure would be the simple solution, he said.

“We don’t want to overreact, but we also don’t want to let it go,” he said.

Rome News-Tribune Staff writer Diane Wagner; Walter C. Jones of Morris News Service and Louie Brogdon of The Brunswick News contributed to this report. From Loudermilk:

“I have been contacted by some media and others about claims that there has been some sort of discrimination against a former employee of the state, Ms. Ethel Blackmon. Though Ms. Blackmon did work in my senate office for a short time, I have never discriminated against her or anyone else, and this issue has never been raised to me.

The media has also reported an alleged monetary settlement made to her, which they claim had something to do with me. I have never been consulted about a settlement, nor did I know anything about one before hearing of media reports yesterday.”

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