John P. Boan/Times-Georgian

Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the West Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Rob Teilhet, a candidate for Georgia Attorney General, said the state needs to do more to tighten its ethics regulations relating to elected officials, while also making a greater effort at stopping crime before it happens.

As a Democrat serving his fourth term representing Smyrna and Marietta in the Georgia House of Representatives, Teilhet said he is familiar with state-level government but, what’s more, he is more than aware of the dangers facing residents across the state on a daily basis, ranging from unfair lending practices to petty crime to collusion among elected officials.

“Somewhere in Georgia today, public officials are going to meet in private, not in public ... and they’re going to be meeting to plan public action not for the benefit of their constituents but for the benefit of themselves and their own private financial interest or that of their supporters,” Teilhet said. “Georgia needs to elect an attorney general in 2010 who cares that that is happening and is willing to do something about it, because the public’s trust in government, if it’s not at an all time low, it’s close to it.”

Teilhet said that recent scandals under the Gold Dome in Atlanta have caused much public distrust of elected officials, and it will be up to the new attorney general to enforce stricter ethics regulations. Former House Speaker Glenn Richardson resigned Jan. 1, following the revelation that he had an affair with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light while he was sponsoring a bill authorizing the utility to build a $300 million natural gas pipeline.

“If you think your elected officials are ripping you off and stealing from you and meeting in secret ... why on earth would you trust them to solve water or transportation or the lottery,” he said. “If we don’t trust them just to be basic and decent and honest in a general way, why would we trust them with the big challenges that are very complicated that we have to address soon to secure Georgia’s future?”

At the same time, Teilhet said, crime is just as serious on the local level as it is on the state level. An immediate concern, especially considering the time of year, is that of “instant tax refund loans” that allow consumers to receive a loan on their presumed tax refund at rates sometimes exceeding 300 and 400 percent. These are hardly different than payday advance loans, which were outlawed in the state several years ago, he said, and the attorney general’s office needs to work to make tax refund loans more transparent, mandating that the terms of these loans be spelled out explicitly.

What’s more, he said, the majority of criminals in state prisons are repeat offenders, beginning their criminal careers not by committing a heinous felony like murder or rape so much as committing petty larceny or burglary. Because of this, the state needs to be more active in stopping crime before it happens, and a big part of that is tracking convicted criminals once they’re released. The state has one of the smallest DNA databases in the country, he said, and if Georgia is going to succeed in reducing the rate of repeat offenses, it needs to focus on keeping its focus on the criminals.

“If we took DNA samples sooner and matched them with prior crimes faster, you could prevent literally hundreds of crimes every year,” he said. “The attorney general is the one person in government whose only job it is to seek justice. That’s a pretty awesome responsibility ... It means you have to demand justice when political forces push for expediency, and it means you have to be a voice for people who otherwise would never be heard.”

Teilhet is running against fellow Democrat Ken Hodges and Republicans Sam Olens and Max Wood. The primary election is in June.