On Sunday October the 9th, 2005 a fundraiser was held for State Representative Jack Murphy at a private Lake Lanier home. Forsyth County Commissioner Brian Tam was the caterer for the event. The next day, as political activist David Milum was passing Commissioner Tam's Cumming restaurant, he saw the Commissioner's county issued truck sitting in the parking lot filled to the brim with Commissioner Tam's catering equipment.

Milum with digital camera in hand took many shots of the loaded truck.

Some of the injurious shots made their way into a local newspaper.

The reason Milum thought that the equipment was Commissioner Tam's catering tools was that in the mix were numerous utensils normally thought of as things that could be used for any catering event. His photographic evidence clearly showed a microwave, a carpet sweeper, an ice scoop, a double fixture heat lamp, a handheld blender, a wide broom, a dustpan, and a gallon of liquid cleaner. Also in the truck bed was a stack of coasters, measuring spoons, pots, serving pans, and an insulated hot bag for keeping food warm while in transit. In addition there was a white plastic cutting board, a small funnel, and an antique serving chest among other articles stacked in the county owned truck bed.

Milum approached the county commissioners on what to do with this information and was advised to go to the county Ethics Board with his complaints. Commissioner Tam, knowing that Milum had taken the photos the day before, addressed a commission assembly and verbally asked the Ethics Board to hold a hearing to decide if the Commissioner had violated any laws. The next day, political activist George Anderson and Milum filed their own complaint against the commissioner.

On January 12, 2006, The Ethics Board held the very first Board hearing since the creation of that Board. After extensive testimony by both sides, that lasted well over two and one-half hours, the Board claimed that they couldn't find enough evidence that Commissioner Tam had violated any laws.

Instead, they issued a harsh statement against Tam that said the Commissioner had exercised "questionable judgment" when he decided to use the vehicle to transport his "personal goods" for Tam's Backstage, the restaurant he runs in Cumming.

During this testimony Tam claimed that he never used the county truck for his own use albeit the flashy photos screaming otherwise lying within inches of his fingertips. He also claimed that he actually loaded his equipment at his storage bin in South Forsyth County on that Monday and not at the lakefront catering event site for Rep. Murphy that lies in the Northern part of the county.

The storage bin was described by Tam to be in the general vicinity of the loosely described zoning parcel that he had trouble giving directions to.

Tam had previously described the mysterious parcel as one that he was inspecting in South Forsyth on that Monday. Also troubling was that Tam couldn't remember the name of his storage bin until Milum asked the commissioner if he actually had a storage bin or not. At that point Tam came up with a partial name.

Milum went to this storage facility last Sunday and several others that have this same name, and no one there appears to know who Commissioner Brian Tam is. The open letter you will see below is a result of those not so clear answers by Commissioner Tam. So far, no answers to the letter have been forthcoming from either Commissioner Tam or his attorney.

Three county commissioners have now turned in their county issued vehicles.

Open Letter to Forsyth County Commissioner's attorney, Miles Eastwood

January 15, 2006

Dear Mr. Eastwood,

I am respectfully writing this letter to you to set the record straight in my Ethics Complaint against your client Forsyth County Commissioner Brian Tam. Commissioner Tam was accused of using his county owned truck for his private restaurant catering use.

As you know Mr. Tam testified in a January 12, 2006 Forsyth County Ethics Board hearing that he picked up his restaurant equipment at his rented storage bin close to the location where he was inspecting a zoning issue. I do recall that your client was under oath during these statements.

This letter is not meant to be confrontational but more of a gesture of goodwill, an olive branch if you will, to possibly end this ethics complaint issue once and for all. I need a couple of things from you Sir to fully accomplish that. I hope you also view this correspondence as a very simple way to assure that all pertinent facts in this case have been properly visited and properly addressed.

While Mr. Tam's case has been decided on by the Forsyth County Ethics Board there seems to be some very disturbing questions still on the Taxpayer's minds. We would certainly like to totally rule out any possibility of perjury by Commissioner Tam or any involvement where you are concerned Mr. Eastwood.

First; will you please supply to me the correct address of the subject zoning that Commissioner Tam was inspecting on October 10th, 2005? In Mr. Tam's testimony this zoning issue location was unclear to me.

Second; will you supply me with the actual storage facility's proper name where Mr. Tam's restaurant items were picked up?

Third; can you provide me with documentation that Commissioner Tam actually rented, and/or abandoned this subject storage bin and what dates these transactions took place? Also allowing me very limited access to these enter/exit records would also be very helpful. As you know access to only the visit records for Monday October 10, 2005 will be necessary.

I know all this was traumatic for Commissioner Tam. In my own heartfelt efforts to end any hard feelings between Commissioner Tam, me, or the Forsyth County Taxpayers I truly believe that answers to these simple questions will satisfy everyone's curiosity.

A positive response from your office to these simple requests could quickly end any future investigations by our Forsyth County Citizen's Oversight Committee and what better way for Commissioner Tam to help us end this issue?

I look forward to your grant of these requests.

David Milum

Forsyth County Citizen's Oversight Committee 4300 Jot Em Down Road Cumming, Ga. 30040

Cc: Forsyth County Ethics Board, Clerk Lois Smith; for dispersal to all members Brian Hansford, attorney for Forsyth County Ethics Board George Anderson, Ethics in Government Group Jack Conway, Forsyth County Commission Chairman Charlie Laughinghouse, Commissioner David Richard, Commissioner Linda Ledbetter, Commissioner Brian Tam, Commissioner Jeff Quesenberry, Forsyth County Manager Ken Jarrard, Forsyth County attorney Forsyth County News The Herald The AJC www.cumminghome.com Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Jeff Bagley The Office of Governor Perdue