State lawmakers from Chatham County did about $6.5 million worth of business with the state last year, official reports show.
The money was for treatment or medicine provided under Medicaid, a state-federal health care subsidy program.
As in recent years, the top recipient of state money was a company headed by Rep. Craig Gordon, D-Savannah, CEO of Statewide Healthcare.
The Savannah Democrat reported receipts totalling more than $4.6 million to his Savannah-based firm, which provides in-home care.
The next highest recipient was Rep. Ron Stephens, a pharmacist and Savannah Republican who was paid about $1.35 million.
This year, at least two lawmakers were more meticulous about what they told the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission they received.
Last year and for five consecutive previous years, Gordon said the state paid his firm exactly $3.5 million a year.
Questioned about that, he acknowledged under-reporting state payments to his company by almost $1.8 million but amended his report with updated numbers.
He attributed the errors to eagerness to meet reporting deadlines and his belief reports didn’t have to be exact
This year, he said, the report was exact to the cent: $4,605,432.76.
“I learn from my mistakes,” he said. “Disclosure is disclosure, and I wanted to do it down to the penny.”
Gordon said he owns an interest of 11 percent or 12 percent in the company and most of the Medicaid money “goes right out the door for operations.”
Similarly, Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, a dentist, last year told the commission he got a flat $100,000.
Jackson said he does about the same amount of Medicaid work every year but added that last year’s figure was an estimate that turned out to be about $5,000 low.
This year, he said, he delayed filing his report until he could be exact to the dollar: $115,446.
Others paid through Medicaid were Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, also a pharmacist, and Rep. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, a doctor. Carter received $428,899; Watson, $2,663.
In addition, Bill Hitchens, a candidate for the House District 161 from which Ann Purcell is retiring, received $51,375 for contract work from the state Department of Public Safety.
Hitchens, a Rincon Republican, said he received the money for work he did after he retired as the department’s commissioner.
Like last year, the reports suggested that Carter and Stephens are — as both have acknowledged — millionaires.
Carter said he owns two pharmacy businesses and is president of a third. He owns four properties, each worth more than $200,000, and stocks worth at least $650,000, his reports say.
Stephens listed interests in two pharmacies, two other businesses and 11 properties with a total value of more than $1.6 million. His wife owns two properties worth more than $200,000 each, he reported.
Carter’s and Stephens reports reflect the low end of broad ranges the commission uses for reporting, so the value of their assets is likely much higher.