State Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur

On Friday a jury awarded $700,000 to the former director of the state Ethics Commission who said she was forced out of office for investigating Gov. Nathan Deal’s 2010 campaign, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.  To read the full AJC story, click here.

By Friday afternoon, state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, was using the verdict to raise money for his campaign against the incumbent governor.

“This whistle-blower trial opened a new window into the unethical culture of Gov. Deal’s administration,” Carter’s fundraising letter said. “Contribute to our campaign so we can beat Gov. Deal and give Georgians the honest government we deserve. Between this trial, the ongoing federal grand jury inquiry, and the new revelations that the governor used his official taxpayer-paid staff to advance his private business dealings, it is clear that this governor doesn’t think that the rules apply to him.”

Deal’s campaign gave a statement to WSB-TV about the verdict.

“Today’s verdict centered around an internal dispute between former employees and former commissioners of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, which is a body that operates independently of elected officials,” the statement says, in part. “There’s a reason no member of the governor’s staff was called to testify: because there’s no connection to this office.”

To read the full statement, click here.

So far, polls in the race show Carter and Deal are tied heading into the summer campaign season.