Fired lawyer opposed no-bid contract, released emails on Kemp’s handling of pandemic – By Alan Judd (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) / July 12 2021
Jennifer Dalton was a career government lawyer, approaching retirement at age 61, when she took on a new role at an urgent moment: general counsel of Georgia’s public health agency amid the worst pandemic in a century.
Almost immediately, however, Dalton began objecting to what she calls “potential violations of state and federal law” by the agency and its commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey.
The protests cost Dalton her job, she says.
In a letter seeking compensation under the state’s whistleblower protection law, Dalton alleges she was unlawfully fired in retaliation for questioning a $14 million, eight-month contract for scheduling COVID-19 vaccinations, awarded without competitive bidding to a company represented by a lobbyist whose family apparently is close to Toomey.
