Recently, a couple of AJC colleagues penned a nice little abuse-of-power story about City Hall.
The article, written by Stephen Deere and Dan Klepal, was a classic case of politicians stretching the boundaries of decorum and legality to look out for their own.
To sum it up, key campaign staffers of incoming Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms were given job titles not based on their experience or responsibilities, but on what they wanted to be paid. It's great work if you can get it. And six of them did.
The staffers were paid with city funds — taxpayer money, that is — before being hired to formal city positions. They were paid for working on Bottoms’ transition team in a two-week period before she took office on Jan. 2, 2018.
The checks were paid to them retroactively. One key ally, campaign manager Marva Lewis, was briefly parked in a job as airport deputy general manager and paid out of airport funds, although she had nothing to do with airplane terminals or jet fuel. This is a possible no-no with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lewis, now chief of staff, was one of the campaign staffers whose names were jotted down on a wish list of desired salaries — hers was a plumb $275K job. These kinds of antics led one former Bottoms' loyalist to run to the feds, who are investigating City Hall, and gave Republican legislators down the street at the Gold Dome one more reason to argue that the state should wrest away control of Atlanta's airport.
Bottoms’ office said such “placeholder jobs” for transition teams are routine, although they are normally paid out of remaining campaign funds.
Then Bottoms’ administration did what any good political team should do when answering questions from insistent reporters: They pointed the finger at the previous administration. This would be former Mayor Kasim Reed, who was a key campaign supporter but now is seen as a millstone.
Mayor Bottoms also vetoed a City Council initiative calling for an investigation into her administration.
Yvonne Yancy, who was Reed’s HR director, said Mayor-elect Bottoms first approached her to get her to pay the workers. Yancy, in essence, said, “This ain’t right,” until Hizzoner stepped in to help make it happen.
Like I said earlier, there has been a lot of tsk-tsking about all this over at the Gold Dome. Legislators are shocked to imagine that such featherbedding exists.
Just imagine those six mayoral minions getting paid before taking office. The nerve!
Nah, take it from a real wheeler-dealer such as former Gov. Nathan Deal, who has decades of acumen working the system. You hook up your guys as you're leaving office. And maybe get your daughter and a former staffer nice six-figure gigs with the Georgia Lottery as you go. Deal's people insist they won the jobs on their own merits.
All right.
While leaving office, Deal’s administration signed contracts for a half-dozen officials (six again!) that will afford them sweet payouts if Gov. Brian “Shotgun” Kemp wants to remove them and put in his own people.
These are golden parachutes that amount to almost $3 million, according to a story written by the AJC's Greg Bluestein. They are jobs such as the head of the Georgia Lottery, the state Ports Authority and the Georgia World Congress Center.
You see, that’s how government works. You can smooth things out for your friends going into office. And going out.
Chris Riley, who was Deal’s top lieutenant, told Bluestein the long-term contracts make sure these top bureaucrats don’t bolt for greener pastures.
Riley knows his government. He's been joined at the hip with Deal since the former governor was a congressman getting investigated for his business dealings with the state of Georgia.
In 2009, the AJC reported that “Deal and a business partner obtained lucrative state business without competition and that Deal personally intervened with state officials to fight proposed changes to the operation.” His company earned $1.5 million between 2004 and 2008.
Deal repeatedly insisted there was no wrongdoing. Then he got elected as governor for two terms.
Now that they’re leaving, Deal and Riley will open a lobbying firm to make sure that good government flows smoothly and businesses keep making money.
Georgia law prohibits the heads of state agencies, commissions and boards from working as lobbyists for a year upon leaving office. But there is no prohibition for a former governor or his right-hand man from hanging out a shingle and selling their connections, no matter what some of the spoilsport government watchdog types might think.
Gov. Kemp, meanwhile, wasn't shy about paying incoming staffers, signing up six of them (six again!) at at least $190,000 each. Some newcomers are getting paid as much or more than long-running aides who toiled in Deal's office.
Kemp’s officials said they will actually end up saving the government money by pulling in all this key talent.
In this vein, Kemp hired Scott Hilton, a former GOP state legislator who was defeated last fall, to a newly created $175,000 position to help cut government.
Yes, in government, you must expand it to shrink it.
I called former state Attorney General Mike Bowers, who has investigated pols and government both in and out of office, to ask him which is the biggest ethics offender — the state or the city?
He said there are hinky dealings in both, but traditionally, pound for pound, the city has more. He attributes that to the state having “an independent, elected legal office who doesn’t work for the governor. You don’t have anything like that in city government.”
Bowers continued with his criticism of self-interested pols: “I say a pox on them. If the journalists don’t watch them, they’ll all act crazy. You’re not supposed to be digging a deal for yourself. If given a chance, people will take advantage of the situation and someone has to watch them.”
So, you’re all welcome.
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