Governor Names Former DeKalb DA Bob Wilson, Former Attorney General Mike Bowers as Special Investigators

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue today announced that he is appointing former DeKalb County District Attorney Bob Wilson and former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers as Special Investigators to look into testing irregularities on the 2009 CRCT administration at Atlanta Public Schools and Dougherty County School System.

Governor Perdue told the State Board of Education on Wednesday that he would take this step after the reports submitted by Atlanta Public Schools and Dougherty County School System were deemed to be incomplete.

Michael J. Bowers

Michael J. Bowers former Attorney General of Georgia, is a Partner at Balch & Bingham LLC. He joined the firm in September of 1998, concentrating in general civil litigation. He became Partner in January of 2000. Georgia Trend Magazine named Mike as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians from their beginning in 1990 through 1997 and again in 2003. Mike currently serves as Chairman of the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission. Upon obtaining his law degree, Mike accepted a position with the State of Georgia Attorney General’s Office, where he worked until he was appointed Attorney General of Georgia in 1981. Mike was reelected four times and served as Attorney General until June of 1997, when he resigned from office in order to seek the Republican nomination for Governor. Bowers served in the United States Air Force from 1963-1970, when he joined the Air National Guard, from which he retired in 1997 at the rank of Major General. From 1994 to 1997, he served as Chair of the National Guard Bureau’s Counterdrug Board in Washington, D.C. Mike and his wife, Bette Rose, are the parents of three grown children and reside in Commerce.

Robert E. “Bob” Wilson

Bob Wilson received a B.S. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1970 and is a 1974 graduate of Emory University School of Law. In 1978, Wilson was appointed Chief Public Defender for DeKalb County, a position he held until resigning to run for District Attorney. Bob was first elected District Attorney for the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit in 1980 by defeating an incumbent. As District Attorney, Bob was twice re-elected without opposition. While District Attorney, Bob established Georgia’s first Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, first Career Criminal Prosecution Unit as well as one of Georgia’s first Victim Assistance Programs. In 1998 Bob was one of the founders of the firm of Wilson, Morton & Downs, LLC, located in Decatur, where he practices law today. In 1992 Bob was appointed by then Governor Zell Miller as a Special Assistant Attorney General to investigate the business practices in Georgia of Fleet Finance, Inc., a subsidiary of one of America’s largest financial institutions.  After conducting one of the most extensive civil investigations ever undertaken by the State of Georgia, Mr. Wilson negotiated a settlement valued in excess of $100 million between the State of Georgia and Fleet Finance.  At the time, this settlement was the largest by any state against a single company under an unfair and deceptive acts and practices statute in United States history. During his legal career, Bob has served the State of Georgia and his local community in many capacities and received numerous awards and honors. Bob was co-founder and first Chair of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Center for Children, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides counseling for sexually-abused children (now known as the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy).  He was also a founding member of the DeKalb Rape Crisis Center, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides assistance and counseling to adult sexual assault victims, and served as first Chairman of its Board of Directors. Bob is an active volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America and has served on the Executive Board of the Atlanta Area Council since 1983. In 2001 Bob was a founding member of the Decatur Education Foundation for the City Schools of Decatur, a non-profit organization that nurtures and supports enrichment opportunities and educational achievement for children and youth, and served as its first Chair of the Board until the Spring of 2004. Bob and his wife Lynda live in Decatur and have two sons, Alex and Matthew, and a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth.

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