The Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission recommends an ethics complaint against Lt.
Gov. Casey Cagle be dismissed March 1.

The complaint, lodged against Cagle just days before he was reelected in November, alleged he had an affair with a staff member and gave her money to keep quiet.

The complaint was filed by Ray Boyd, former Republican gubernatorial candidate and an open supporter of Carol Porter, Cagle's Democratic opponent in the race for lieutenant governor.

Porter denied any connection to the complaint.

Ben Fry, a spokesman for Cagle, said the lieutenant governor was confident the complaint would be dismissed.
"We've always said the complaint is completely false and absolutely absurd. We've said all we're going to say about a completely false, politically motivated complaint," Fry said.

Boyd said he is disappointed he was not notified that the complaint was on the commission's agenda.

"My position is there's a culture of corruption down at the state Capitol, and Casey Cagle is a part of that culture of corruption," Boyd said. "The people at the state Capitol, including all the employees, secretaries, all of them down there understand and have a pretty good feeling for what's going on, and in this particular case I hope the truth will come out."

Boyd filed the complaint as a member of We the People Advocate LLC.

In four sentences, Boyd said Cagle used campaign funds to pay the woman "in excess of the market rate for campaigning activities because Cagle has been having an affair" with her, which "has included at least one sexual encounter" in his office at the Capitol. Boyd said the $25,000 bonus after the campaign is "far above the prevailing market rate for the campaign activities she performed."

Boyd's complaint offers no proof of the affair, which allegedly occurred around the time Cagle, then a state senator, was elected lieutenant governor in 2006.

In April, Boyd made headlines when he put $2 million of his own money into a campaign account and said he would run for governor as a Republican. After refusing to sign the Republican loyalty oath, party leaders didn't allow him on the primary ballot.

Boyd then began collecting thousands of signatures to qualify for the election as an independent but dropped from the gubernatorial race in June.

Staff writer Carolyn Crist contributed to this report.