Georgia companies have poured millions of dollars into a campaign for a sales tax increase to fund transportation improvements, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions flowing from road builders and others in the construction industry who could see their business boom if the measure is approved.
Citizens for Transportation Mobility — the political action committee pushing the July 31 transportation referendum in metro Atlanta — took in $6.5 million from spring 2011 through July 16, according to a campaign finance report filed Monday. Records show the group dramatically outraised opponents of the tax increase: The Transportation Leadership Coalition, which is fighting the referendum, raised $14,418.
Business leaders have been the most vocal supporters of the effort to approve a 10-year, 1 percent sales tax that would fund a $6.14 billion list of transportation projects. They say it would fuel the region’s economy and relieve traffic delays. Opponents argue officials can’t be trusted to shepherd such a large sum and that most of the projects won’t help commuters.
Records show companies — mostly Georgia ones — have invested heavily in the pro-referendum effort. Some, such as the retailer Home Depot, would typically oppose a sales tax increase but believe they would benefit from an improved transportation system. The larger donors include Cox Enterprises, the parent company of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Georgia Power Co., both of which contributed $250,000. Coca-Cola Co. donated $197,500.
Clear Channel donated $295,000 in in-kind contributions, providing use of its billboards to host the effort’s signature “Untie Atlanta” message urging motorists to “vote yes.”
Contributors also included Georgia stalwarts Home Depot and Delta, which donated $150,000 each. UPS and Turner Broadcasting System each gave $100,000.
About three-quarters of the money raised has been used to fund door-to-door canvassing, mailers and television ads. The TV effort is expected to pick up steam in the closing days as the campaign tries to close the deal with undecided voters and get supporters to the polls.
David Stockert, chief executive officer of Post Properties and the chairman of Citizens for Transportation Mobility, said corporations are the largest donors because they have the deep pockets to fund the effort. But, he added, they have an interest in the region’s growth and success.
“They see a bigger benefit to the region and in making the region more prosperous,” Stockert said.
Construction dollars
Among the largest contributors are those companies that would benefit most immediately from new road and infrastructure improvements.
The construction and design industry donated more than $1 million, or less than 20 percent of the total amount raised.
Yancey Bros. Co., which deals in Caterpillar road-building equipment, chipped in $250,000 to the effort.
Road builder C.W. Matthews contributed $200,000, and gravel provider Vulcan Materials Co. chipped in $105,000.
Construction industry groups also spent heavily. The Georgia Highway Contractors Association donated $250,000.
Some of those companies have seen their public work plummet amid the recession, which has halted some infrastructure work.
“They stand to make billions of dollars off this so, of course, they are donating lots of money to make it pass,” said Jack Staver of Woodstock, a T-SPLOST opponent who heads the Transportation Leadership Coalition.
But Stockert said road construction and infrastructure improvements translate into jobs for a region that needs them.
Secret donors
While the pro-T-SPLOST advocacy effort revealed its 685 donations on Monday, some donors to a separate education effort may remain secret.
Organized as a 501(c)(3) under federal tax laws, the Metro Atlanta Voter Education Network is not legally required to disclose its contributors. Under federal law, the group — called MAVEN — cannot specifically call for residents to vote for the T-SPLOST. Instead they have called it “one solution” to metro Atlanta’s traffic woes.
MAVEN is funding education efforts as well as some get-out-the vote activities, Atlanta Regional Commission Chairman Tad Leithead said.
Leithead said the group raised roughly $2.1 million. Leithead said that $1.5 million of that comes from community improvement districts, groups of businesses that join together and voluntarily agree to tax themselves to pay for infrastructure improvements.
“These are the most highly trafficked and densely developed areas,” Leithead said, “and they see the benefits this would bring.”
Since community improvement districts take public votes, their donations became public.
Critics say that the education effort has been nearly identical to the advocacy effort and is only educating about one particular option. They decried the lack of transparency.
“If you’re pushing for the biggest tax increase in Georgia’s history, I guess I would not want my name attached to it either,” said Mark Woodall, Georgia chairman of the Sierra Club. The group opposes the T-SPLOST because it says the project list doesn’t include enough transit projects.
The opposition
Opponents of the tax increase say despite the lopsided fundraising totals, they will get their message out before July 31 through a heavy grass-roots effort.
The foes of the transportation tax have tried to make up for their lack of funds with cooperation and a grass-roots push. Recently, the NAACP, the Sierra Club and the state’s Tea Party Patriots called a joint news conference to warn of the potential for the tax to become a boondoggle.
They also warn that the list does not have a good mix of road and transit projects, and that the 10-county area has diverse needs that can’t be met through the cobbled plan.
Organizers with the Atlanta Tea Party — which had not even reached the $500 contribution threshold to file state paperwork — said they expect donations in the coming days to provide them with money for yard signs.
The Transportation Leadership Coalition has poured its limited money into T-shirts and mailers.
And opponents have been a vocal presence at town hall meetings. They called the list of projects flawed and said a tax increase was the wrong way to go about improving roads and infrastructure.
“We may not have the big money, but we have the grass roots behind us,” Staver said.
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