ATLANTA — Allegations that the state ethics commission retaliated against top staffers in an effort to stifle an investigation of Gov. Nathan Deal’s personal and campaign finance reports have been at the center of two lawsuits pending in Fulton County Superior Court.

Now one of those lawsuits heads to trial this week, and a jury will decide whether they believe the claims brought by Stacey Kalberman, the commission’s former executive secretary, or side with state attorneys who argue she left after her salary was reduced by 30 percent for budgetary reasons in 2011 and that it was unrelated to the governor’s ethics probe.