Scott Drake, an attorney who has lived in Gwinnett County since 1993, announced today his bid for Georgia State Senate Dist. 9 against Republican incumbent Don Balfour.

“I can no longer stand silently on the sidelines. Democracy is not a spectator sport and public office is about service, not feathering one’s own special interest nest,’ Drake said.

Drake, who has spent twenty-one years prosecuting and defending clients on cases ranging from murder, drug felonies, D.U.I.s to family violence, said deciding to run for office was born out of his interest in seeing a return of honesty, integrity and ethics to Gwinnett County politics.

“I have a personal and professional interest in seeing that justice prevails. The culture of corruption that exists within Gwinnett County – at all levels – will cease only when we challenge those who would try to bend circumstances in their own favor and for personal gain. Public service means putting constituents first,” said Drake.

Drake said the political system has been corrupted to such an extreme extent that when elected he will initiate and support stronger ethics legislation that will ban all gifts from lobbyists and require both the executive and legislative branches of government to be subject to open records laws.

He said elected officials should be accountable to the constituents in their districts and citizens should know that measures in place will protect the integrity of the political system.

“While I am proud to sign the pledge to support and co-sponsor legislation that would create a $100 gift limit on lobbyists, I don’t believe that goes far enough to curtail the abuses of power we have all seen or read about. The time has come to restore integrity to politics,” Drake said.

Drake said that recent ethics measures debated do little to change the practices now under the Gold Dome and do little to effectively change the rules in order to restore the confidence of voters.