Mitzi Bickers, a political consultant with close ties to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, is identified in documents released by Atlanta city government Thursday as being part of the federal investigation that has enveloped City Hall.
Reed’s administration released 1.4 million pages of documents the had previously been turned over to federal investigators. An Aug. 19 subpoena names Bickers and demands her work product as a city employee or contractor, along with work from any of her companies or organizations she represented as a contractor.
There were at least 310 filing boxes stuffed with information about Bickers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News had previously identified Bickers as a person who had been an executive in Elvin "E.R." Mitchell Jr.'s construction company. Mitchell pleaded guilty in federal court Jan. 25 to a count of conspiracy to commit bribery and launder money.
Additionally, Bickers helped Reed win the mayor’s office in 2009 with an effective get-out-the-vote campaign, then worked for the Reed administration from 2010-13 as his director of human relations.
The AJC and Channel 2 also reported that Bickers’ communications company employed as its chief financial officer Shandarrick L. Barnes, a felon who was arrested for leaving dead rats on Mitchell’s property and throwing a brick through his window with the words: “ER, keep your mouth shut!!! Shut Up.”
A second construction contractor, C.P. Richards, was charged with bribery in federal court Wednesday. He is expected to plead guilty Feb. 16.
The AJC and Channel 2 has previously identified more than $7 million in payments to Mitchell's company for emergency work performed mostly during the 2011 and 2014 snow storms. A second federal subpoena, dated Nov. 30, asks for emergency contracts between the city and Mitchell's company.
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