Legislation to abolish and then re-create the state’s judicial watchdog agency has uncovered fault lines that have divided the agency’s members appointed by the State Bar of Georgia, its current chairman foremost among them, and its longtime investigator, Richard Hyde, who was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to the panel last month.
The apparent rift primarily has pitted Lester Tate, a Cartersville attorney who chairs the Judicial Qualifications Commission and is one of the bar’s appointees, against Hyde, who has investigated ethics complaints against judges for the JQC since 2007 and who has twice been named by Deal as a commissioner.
