ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly will be down another lawmaker during this legislative session after the suspension of a state representative who was indicted last month in federal court.
Gov. Brian Kemp ordered the suspension of State. Rep. Sharon Henderson, D-Covington, after a committee of elected officials determined that her indictment “does relate to and adversely affect” her duties as a lawmaker.
The suspension, which Kemp signed Thursday, is in effect until Henderson’s term ends or her case is closed.
A quick disposition appears unlikely. Henderson has retained a lawyer, and her case in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta is scheduled for a pretrial conference Feb. 19.
Henderson is accused of two counts of theft of government funds and 10 counts of making false statements in connection with claims that she filed for federal unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosecutors alleged she collected $17,811 in unemployment benefits to which she was not entitled.
Another member of the state House quickly resolved charges related to defrauding the same unemployment program.
Former Rep. Karen Bennett, D-Stone Mountain, pleaded guilty in the same federal court to making false statements to fraudulently obtain $13,940 in federal emergency relief funds during the pandemic, Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, announced Wednesday.
Kemp was required by the Georgia Constitution to assemble the review committee on Henderson’s status.
On Jan. 8, he appointed three members. Two were Republicans: Attorney General Chris Carr and Rep. Jan Jones, R-Milton, the House speaker pro tem. The third was Sen. Harold Jones, II, D-Augusta, the Senate minority leader.
They issued their finding Thursday, the same day Kemp suspended Henderson.
Several other seats in the legislature remain open for a variety of reasons, but Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been scheduling special elections to fill them, with one for Bennett’s vacated seat on March 10.