McDONOUGH, GA -- A candidate for Lieutenant Governor has made millions of dollars off the state Georgia – and it’s unclear what he’ll do with the company if he’s elected next year. State Senator Rick Jeffares (R-McDonough) says he isn’t ready yet to answer that question.
Sen. Jeffares’ state business hasn’t been an issue before because the law allows part-time state employees to do business with the state if they win the contract under a sealed bid process. As a member of the state Senate, Jeffares is a part-time employee. But now he’s running for the Repulbican nomination for Lieutenant Governor.
Rick Jeffares’ business, J & T Environmental Services, helps manage water and sewer systems for fifty Georgia cities – including his hometown water system in McDonough.
But some of his most lucrative work has been with the state of Georgia. And Jeffares has won numerous contracts to run water and sewer systems for prisons like the sprawling Jackson diagnostic prison, fifty miles south of Atlanta.
Jeffares says his business has contracted with the Department of Corrections since 2001. “And it’s been bid every time. I guess we work a little cheaper than some other people,” Jeffares said in an interview Thursday. Jeffares was elected to the state Senate in 2010.
In 2015 and 2016, Jeffares’ company has had contracts to do water and sewer work at four state prisons – Lee State Prison, Telfair State Prison, Rogers State Prison and the Georgia Diagnostic Prison--- plus a Georgia DOT rest station on I-95 near Savannah.
During those two years, Jeffares says those contracts with the state have been worth $966,000 to his company. He says his contracts with the state since 2001 have been worth millions of dollars to his company.
Jeffares says his low bids have actually saved the state a half-million dollars, compared to the second-lowest bidders whom Jeffares outbid for the work.
Now Jeffares wants to be Lieutenant Governor – and says he’s pondering how to handle his lucrative state contracts if he wins.
“I would just have to look at that when the time comes, and if it’s a conflict of interest, I would either give up the contracts with the state or I might look at selling my company,” Jeffares said. “We’ve got plenty of time (to decide. The election) is 18 months away.”
Thursday, Jeffares filed a Business Transaction Disclosure Report with the state ethics commission. According to state law, the report was due in January. It outlines Jeffares' business interests with the state. Jeffares filed the report after 11Alive News notified him the report was missing from his state file.
Jeffares had properly filed a Personal Financial Disclosure Form with the ethics commission, also required by state law. The two documents provide similar information.
If Jeffares becomes a full-time state employee, he would be ineligible to bid on state contracts. But Jeffares contends the position of Lieutenant Governor is technically a part time job, though he says he would do it with full-time gusto if elected. The job currently pays $91,609.
The campaign will begin in earnest later this year. He expects more questions about this issue.
