Inspector General Shannon Manigault resigns after stonewalling, harassment by Mayor and City Council 

Shannon Manigault stood before a gaggle of reporters on the steps outside City Hall Monday morning to announce her resignation as Atlanta’s Inspector General. Flanked by employees of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and former Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore, among others, Manigault claimed the legislation City Council passed later that day would “destroy the office.”  

The legislation, Ordinance 25-O-1009, amends the city’s charter to alter the existing responsibilities and oversight structure of the OIG. It creates separate governing boards for the city Ethics office and the OIG, rather than the single board that previously oversaw both offices. 

But it wasn’t just the legislation backed by the Mayor’s Office and a Task Force he asked the City Council to create that Manigault cited as the reason she decided to resign.

“If the discussions around the [IG’s] Office had stayed at the level of policy . . . that would have been okay. But things have taken a turn,” Manigault said during Monday’s press conference. “Two weeks ago, the abuse that I’ve been routinely subjected to was then extended to my family. And that is not okay.”  

Manigault then explained that after taking several days’ leave, she reached the decision to resign. “I hate that it’s come to this,” she said.  

Atlanta created the Inspector General position in 2019 based on recommendations by a Task Force for the Promotion of Public Trust after a series of high-profile corruption scandals during the administration of former mayor Kasim Reed. Multiple federal criminal convictions of high-ranking officials, including the city’s Finance Director and Deputy Chief of Staff, pleaded guilty to corruption-related crimes.  

Manigault and the OIG’s office released multiple reports that contained findings critical of the Mayor’s office, department leadership and staff, and city contractors with ties to councilmembers. Simmering tensions between Manigault and city officials boiled over when she appeared unannounced during the public comment period in a May 2024 City Council meeting to allege interference with her investigations. Later in the summer, the Mayor’s office proposed legislation creating a Task Force aimed at reevaluating the authority and oversight of the OIG.  

Earlier this year, the Atlanta City Attorney Patrise M. Perkins-Hooker publicly issued Manigault a cease-and-desist letter alleging her office violated Georgia law by serving subpoenas for bank records with instructions not to notify the accountholders. 

Attorney James Radford, who said he represents the OIG as outside counsel, began the press conference by claiming that because Atlanta’s charter gives the OIG criminal law enforcement authority, issuing the subpoenas without notice was proper. Radford’s claim appears to be a reversal of the IG’s previously stated position that the office would “own its missteps.” 

Manigault declined to take questions during the press conference but during her live interview with WABE later that day that her husband was targeted during a February 3 Council meeting. 

Mayor’s Office Reacts  

Mayor Andre Dickens and his team learned about Manigault’s resignation from a reporter with ACPC who happened to be waiting in his office an hour after the press conference ended.  

Asked for comment on the resignation as he strode quickly by, Dickens nearly stopped tracks, did a double take, and said, “I had no idea. That’s interesting.”   

Dickens’ chief of staff, Odie Donald, who made the public case to the City Council and the OIG’s governing board to establish the Task Force and pass legislation altering the Inspector General’s powers, declined to comment on Manigault’s resignation.  

When asked about Manigault’s allegations regarding targeted abuse of her family, however, Donald responded: “I’m certain that’s not the case. But it wouldn’t be from us. So we’ll take any of that seriously and she should report that through the normal process.” 

The Mayor’s office later issued a formal statement thanking Ms. Manigault for her service.  

Council Reacts 

Other council members greeted the news of the IG’s resignation with varying degrees of surprise and regret, but mostly relief.  

Councilmember Andrea Boone, whose former staffer was the subject of adverse findings and a criminal referral by the OIG’s office, and who harshly criticized Manigault during her unannounced appearance before City Council for public comment in May 2024, responded to the allegation that Manigault’s family was targeted for abuse: “Come on, lady. Be for real.” 

Councilmember-at-Large Michael Julian Bond, whose campaign manager Bernard Tokarz filed a federal civil rights suit against Manigault over allegedly unlawful subpoenas for his bank records, said, “I respect her decision to step away. But if she’s trying to turn this into ‘She’s the victim,’ that’s not just the case. I mean, the people who have been victims, clearly, are those who had their civil rights violated, their banks accounts gone into illegally.” 

Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari, who voted against the legislation, said she was still getting caught up on the Inspector General’s resignation, but offered, “It does worry me. I do want to understand everything that’s occurred.” 

Councilmember Antonio Lewis was even more forceful than Councilmember Bond in pushing back on Manigault’s narrative, repeatedly comparing her investigative tactics and perceived political motivations to J. Edgar Hoover. “I am always nervous about how government can use powers,” Lewis said.  

Lewis described what he believed was an effort by former City Council President Felicia Moore to use the OIG and Manigault as a vehicle to attack political opponents, possibly paving the road for Moore’s return to elected office. Dickens handily defeated Moore in the most recent runoff for mayor. Lewis attributed Moore’s reemergence as a public defender of Manigault as a means of laying the groundwork for a potential second mayoral campaign. 

Robinson, whose LinkedIn page advertises “honest results expediting permits” and “alcohol licenses” in metro Atlanta, told ACPC his bank account was among those subpoenaed by Manigault, “going back to 2021.” Like Tokarz, Robinson recently filed suit against the City seeking damages for the allegedly unlawful subpoenas. 

“It’s unfortunate,” Robinson said. “She played politics with what she wanted to investigate, who she wanted to investigate, and it just became a sparring match between her and the administration.”  

Hours later, Council passed the legislation Manigault put her job on the line opposing.