Republican lawmakers own part of company given no-bid contracts in Fulton County: report

A company that won a multi-million dollar contract for work in a troubled Atlanta jail has several legislators listed as having ownership stakes, according to a report.

The contract between technology company Talitrix and the Fulton County Sheriff's office was to provide health monitoring wristbands to inmates at the Rice Street jail. It was revoked over concerns about its ownership, and over the fact that only 15 wristbands were actually in use six months after the contract was awarded, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

But the newspaper reported that company had won a series of no-bid contracts with the sheriff's office, and that some of the state legislators with ownership stakes had donated money to Patrick Labat's campaign for sheriff.

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Rep. Todd Jones (R) owns more than 5 percent of Talitrix. Rep. Matt Dubnik (R) is an investor in three factions of the company, and Sen. Greg Dolezal (R) also owns more that 5 percent of the company, the AJC reported.

On Oct 18, county commissioners rescinded the $2.1 million deal they previously approved for Labat and Talitrix, saying they were troubled by Labat's failure to disclose that he already had a months-old deal with the company and that state legislators own part of the company. They also expressed concern that only 15 of the promised 1,000 health-monitoring wristbands were in use.

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Government watchdogs say that, although Labat's deal wasn't illegal, it raises serious ethical questions.

Georgia State University professor Dan Franklin said the deal is "terrible optics."

"Not only is it terrible optics, it's terrible period," he added.

Campaign finance records show Talitrix gave Labat's campaign $34,800 between 2020 and 2022. Jones and his son, who also works at Talitrix, each gave $1,000 to Labat's campaign in 2022. Jones' wife gave $2,800 in 2020 as well, along with one of Jones' companies, TJ Ventures, giving $2,800 in 2020.

Read the full report over at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.