Despite the rants of publicity-seeking bigots, the blather of Twitter twits and a national news media more interested in scooping the competition than in accurate reporting, the fact is that our American system of justice presumes one is innocent until proven guilty. I say this to emphasize that Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, once the chairman of the powerful Rules Committee in the state Senate, has every right to a presumption of innocence in the charges handed down last week by the Fulton County grand jury, which cited 18 counts of false expense claims and theft. The charges came as a result of an investigation by the Atlanta newspaper and a report from the hard-nosed Internet website Atlanta Unfiltered, regarding some questionable expense account records for mileage and for claiming in-state legislative work when lobbyists reported having bought him meals out of state.