Alan Tart, the openly gay Milton City Council member who lost his reelection bid on Nov. 8 to challenger Lance Large, has filed a complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State's Elections Division. Tart alleges two robocalls that went out the night before the election included one that illegally impersonated him as well as falsely represented they were from his campaign.

According to Tart, the calls began being received by people he knew at about 7 p.m. on Nov. 7.

"One was a woman speaking about me in the third person; the other was a man impersonating me in the first person," Tart said.

The robocall from the man, according to Tart, stated, "I am the only openly gay Democrat in North Fulton and it’s important to re-elect Alan Tart so that a progressive voice is heard on the city council. As cited in the GA Voice, ATL Progressive News, and Project Q magazines, Alan, as a progressive who is openly gay, is in a tight race against a conservative Republican Lance Large. Make sure to re-elect Alan Tart to keep a Democratic voice in a sea of Republicans."

Tart was elected to the Milton City Council in 2007 after the conservative North Fulton city was incorporated. He lost his bid for a second term on Nov. 8 to opponent Large by a 56.6 percent to 43 percent margin.

"I am in discussion to discuss the legality of the robocalls and have filed a complaint with the Secretary of State," Tart said Friday. "Whether it was a campaign law or some other violation made I don't know yet. I do know it is illegal to impersonate someone.

"I feel I need to do this," he added. "I am not trying to reset the campaign. The citizens spoke. But I am not going to sit by idly and let deceitful politicking go unchallenged. This kind of politicking and campaigning is what is bad about American politics."

Tart readily acknowledges that he is gay and has been open about the fact since he took office by including the name of his partner on his official city council website.

However, most people did not know he was gay until the Atlanta Progressive News reported it first followed by a report by gay blog Project Q Atlanta.

In an interview with GA Voice responding to allegations from the gay blog that he was trying to hide his sexual orientation, Tart said, "I have been out. My friends know I’m gay, my work knows I’m gay, my neighborhood knows I’m gay.

“We have just lived our lives the way any other person would. Neighbors come out and say you are just like any other married couple — you have a dog, a daughter. And I say, ‘Yeah, how about that?’" he added

Tart said on Friday that the information in the robocall was not untruthful — he is openly gay although he said he's voted for Democrats and Republicans — but the way the robocall was misrepresented to be coming from his campaign when it clearly wasn't is actually "evil."

"I don't know if my opponent [Lance Large] paid for the calls, but it certainly was not meant to help my campaign," he said.

"I'm sure it was homophobic in the way it was trying to sway conservative voters ... in the 11th hour," he added. "At the root of this is real evil."

Photo: Milton City Council member Alan Tart. (file)