Clerk of

Superior Court Clerk Joan Griffies believes the

investigation into missing funds in her office will be

completed "a lot sooner" than most people

think.

Griffies

called in Coweta District Attorney Pete Skandalakis and

the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in February after

determining some filing fees were missing from her

office.

She said

the missing amount is in the "thousands" of

dollars and Skandalakis confirmed an investigation is

ongoing, but could not comment on any possible suspects.

The

investigation follows a Georgia Department of Labor

dispute between Griffies and former deputy clerk Mary

Jane Thompson, who is now running for the clerk position

against Griffies.

According

to the Labor Department's findings of fact, obtained by

The Citizen Review through the Georgia Open Records Act,

the investigation started Feb. 9.

Griffies

called Thompson and another deputy clerk into the office

to discuss the missing funds, the documents say.

Griffies

told both clerks that she had "hard decisions to

make" and would be calling in Skandalakis to

investigate.

Later that

day, Thompson asked Griffies if the clerk wanted Thompson

to leave her job, and Griffies advised Thompson that the

decision was Thompson's and the investigation was not

complete, according to the documents.

Thompson

told Griffies she would probably be resigning, but she

had a doctor's appointment Feb. 11 and wanted her

insurance to cover it.

Griffies

agreed to allow her to resign Feb. 11 and told her it

would not be necessary to report the rest of the week,

according to the Labor Department.

On Feb. 11,

Griffies was notified Thompson was not resigning and she

would report to work Feb. 14. Thompson reported to work

Feb. 14, but was not allowed to work, the documents say.

Thompson

took the incident before the Georgia Department of Labor

and won an appeal that said Griffies did not prove her

claim that Thompson resigned.

Added to

the dispute is the fact that Thompson qualified in April

to run against Griffies in June for clerk of court.

"It's

not easy to do the right thing in a political year. This

has nothing to do with the election; it's about doing

what's right," Griffies said.

She

emphasized the investigation is being done totally

independent of her and she looks forward to a vigorous

election campaign.

Thompson

could not be reached for comment.