New allegations made against Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - There are new allegations against Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis from his estranged wife, Evett Davis, in response to the couple’s divorce.

She claims the mayor’s having an affair with a woman, we found, is a city-paid consultant.

We found more than a dozen payments to that consulting company. Now, these are just allegations from Mrs. Davis. It has not been proven true.

However, if it is true, this adds another questionable expense to the mayor’s office.

“I am a very proud wife of Hardie Davis Jr,” she said.

That was in 2010. Davis was joined by his wife, as he took the oath of office to serve in the state Senate.

Now, they’re calling it quits after 28 years of marriage. Through pages upon pages of documents, allegations of an “ongoing affair” is where the concern begins.

Mayor Davis filed for divorce 10 days ago. Last Wednesday, Mrs. Davis responded. In the response, she named a woman the mayor who is supposedly having an affair with.

We looked her up and found she owned a consulting firm. A quick search of Augusta’s Check Register found 15 separate payments to her firm.

They start in May of 2020, the first check totaling $2,975. That’s the same day the company was reinstated by the Secretary of State’s Office. Payments continue up until November of 2020.

A total of $34,425 was spent. Davis denies the affair allegations but says the woman and her company did provide support services to his office during the pandemic, which is why she was paid.

We can’t see the specific invoices to determine the type of service, but each payment is labeled as “economic development-- public relations.” The hiring consults are allowed under the mayor’s authority. Davis has admitted to hiring consultants for various reasons in the past.

We reached out to some commissioners Monday afternoon. They’ve had no conversations about this as a group. However, one commissioner did tell me he is concerned. And he expects there to be conversations on how to uncover impropriety in how the mayor’s office selects his consultants.

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