State officials have chosen a new leader for the troubled Georgia Ethics Commission. Stefan Ritter, a Senior Assistant Attorney General, was selected Tuesday from four finalists for the executive secretary position. A graduate of Georgia State's law school, Ritter has worked in the Attorney General's office since 1997. Among many duties, Ritter advised local governments on the state's open meetings law and other ethical questions.

The agency's previous executive secretary, Holly Laberge, was fired after a judge fined her for allegedly withholding documents in a lawsuit against the state. The agency enforces Georgia's campaign-finance and ethics laws but has been troubled by employee lawsuits and a backlog of cases.

Commission Chairwoman Hillary Stringfellow says Ritter is the most qualified candidate and is ready to hit the ground running. Ritter says he plans to make the commission non-partisan, resistant to outside pressure and efficient.

Previous secretaries of the commission made similar promises, but have run into a litany of problems. "Perhaps no state illustrates the political perils of ethics enforcement better than Georgia, where the ethics commission has been the nexus of more infighting, vitriol and litigation than a Univision novella," wrote the Center for Public Integrity in 2012.

Tags: ethics commission, ethics, stefan ritter, Holly LaBerge, Bradley George