Representative Patrick Lynn Swindall - Contact Information

Patrick Lynn Swindall (October 18, 1950 – July 11, 2018) was an American politician, attorney, businessman, and broadcaster who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia’s 4th congressional district from 1985 to 1989. Representing a district based in Atlanta’s eastern suburbs, he served two terms in Congress and participated actively in the legislative process during a significant period in late twentieth-century American political history.

Swindall was born in Gadsden, Alabama, on October 18, 1950. His family later moved to Georgia, and as a youth he worked in his father Nathan Swindall’s Atlanta Furniture Store, located at the corner of Butler Street (now Jesse Hill Jr. Drive) and Decatur Street in downtown Atlanta. He eventually managed the family business, gaining early experience in retail operations and small business management that would inform his later career in law, politics, and private enterprise.

Swindall attended the University of Georgia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972. He continued his studies at the University of Georgia School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1975. Following law school, he joined the Atlanta law firm of Heyman & Sizemore. Demonstrating rapid professional advancement, he became the firm’s youngest partner to that date in April 1979 at the age of 28. Swindall practiced law in Atlanta until December 31, 1983, when he resigned his partnership to pursue elective office and run for Congress.

In the 1984 election, with political consultant Robb Austin serving as his campaign manager, Swindall ran as a Republican for Georgia’s 4th congressional district. In a notable upset, he defeated five-term Democratic incumbent Elliott H. Levitas by approximately six percentage points, unseating a congressman who had been elected with relative ease since his first victory in 1974. Swindall took office on January 3, 1985, and was reelected in 1986 by a similar margin over Democratic challenger Ben L. Jones, an actor who later gained national recognition for his role on the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard.” During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Swindall aligned with the Republican Party’s conservative wing and took positions on a range of legislative issues. Among his recorded votes, he opposed the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, which asserted United States title to certain abandoned shipwrecks located on or embedded in submerged lands under state jurisdiction and transferred title to the respective states to enable more effective management and protection of these cultural and historical resources. Despite his opposition, President Ronald Reagan signed the measure into law on April 28, 1988. While in Congress, Swindall also authored a book, “A House Divided: A Congressman Examines the Divisive Issues That Face America” (1987), reflecting his views on contemporary political and social debates.

Swindall’s congressional career was overshadowed and ultimately curtailed by legal difficulties arising near the end of his second term. In October 1988, he was indicted on ten counts of perjury in connection with a federal investigation into a money-laundering scheme involving an undercover Internal Revenue Service agent posing as a representative of a Colombian drug cartel. According to the government’s case, Swindall sought an $850,000 loan to complete construction of a luxury home and was informed that the funds included illegal drug proceeds and would be used in an operation to “wash” cash. He allegedly proposed that an associate establish a mortgage company to funnel the money. During a subsequent grand jury investigation into drug trafficking and money laundering, Swindall denied knowing that the funds were tied to drug operations, but his testimony was contradicted by undercover recordings. One perjury count was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard C. Freeman, but a jury convicted him on nine counts, and he was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $30,450. His colleague and friend, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, testified on his behalf during the proceedings. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned three of the nine counts, but the United States Supreme Court declined to review the remaining six, and Swindall began serving his one-year sentence in 1994. He was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1996. In the political realm, the indictment and ensuing controversy contributed to his defeat in a 1988 rematch with Ben L. Jones, whom he lost to by roughly a 20-point margin, ending his service in Congress on January 3, 1989.

After his release from federal prison on February 9, 1995, Swindall turned to broadcasting and religiously themed political commentary. He hosted a conservative radio program on the Providence Broadcasting Network, promoting the motto “Where religion and politics converge.” Through this platform he sought to blend evangelical Christian perspectives with conservative public policy advocacy. When the Providence Broadcasting Network ceased operations, Swindall announced his intention to pursue a prison ministry, drawing on his personal experience with the criminal justice system. In addition to his media and ministry activities, he owned and operated multiple businesses in the Atlanta area, including ventures in Atlanta and College Park, Georgia.

Swindall’s later years were marked by continued involvement in local politics and business, as well as further legal scrutiny. In June 2009, a Fulton County grand jury indicted him and two former employees on charges related to illegal campaign contributions to Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd. Prosecutors alleged that Swindall was the true source of several contributions that had been reported as coming from other individuals, including family members and friends of the two employees, thereby making false statements on campaign disclosure forms. In 2011, the felony charges were reduced to three misdemeanors. Swindall entered a plea of no contest to two counts of exceeding the maximum allowable campaign contribution and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime, and he was sentenced to one year of probation. In November 2009, he was also involved in a confrontation with former tenants at a flea market property he owned in College Park. Swindall sought to remove interior walls and other structures delineating individual stalls, but after College Park code enforcement officers and police arrived on the scene, his request to remove additional structures was denied and the dispute was defused.

In his personal life, Swindall married Kimberly Schiesser, a former cheerleader at Duke University. The couple had seven children, and during his time in Congress they were sometimes referred to in the media as the “Barbie and Ken of Politics,” a reflection of their youthful appearance and public profile. Swindall remained a resident of the Atlanta metropolitan area for most of his adult life. He died in his sleep on July 11, 2018, at his home in Johns Creek, Georgia, at the age of 67; the cause of death was not disclosed.