It’s a sad day for transparency and accountability in Atlanta. On Jan. 6, Atlanta City Council member Howard Shook introduced charter amendment legislation during a the City Council meeting that would all-but-end the Office of the Inspector General’s (IG) independence. What’s more, IG Shannon Manigault’s investigative powers would be defanged and her access to records would be sharply limited. Passage of this legislation would render the IG helpless to hold Atlanta’s notoriously corrupt city leadership accountable for their misdeeds and sideline key IG allies from the watchdog’s governing board. As Manigault rightly notes, “What the legislation does — it is taking Atlanta backwards.” The Atlanta City Council must quash this horrible piece of legislation and give IG Manigault the tools she needs to turn the city around.
It certainly isn’t easy to fight against corruption in Atlanta. Even when one investigation concludes, crooks just keep on coming. In 2022, former Atlanta city official and pastor Mitzi Bickers was sentenced to 14 years in prison for using her position as city director of human services to steer $17 million in city work to local contractors in exchange for bribes. A sprawling, eight-year federal investigation has nabbed numerous other Atlanta officials for fraud, bribery and misuse of taxpayer dollars. One recently uncovered perpetrator is former Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard, who used taxpayer dollars to buy machine guns, airline tickets, limousines and fancy hotel rooms for him and his pals. These developments certainly don’t bode well for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who has repeatedly called for ethics and transparency reforms.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
The IG’s office is working to sniff out these schemes and expose city officials making a mockery of public service. According to one recently released report by IG Manigault’s office, one senior city employee actively tried steering solicitations for taxpayer-funded projects to a friend who worked for a bidding company. The employee would inappropriately share project details and granular budget information with their friend, who would then use the information to increase proposed costs for task order services. The IG found, “On the identified task orders, quotes increased at least $850,000 following the disclosure of budget information.”
Another recent report by the IG concluded that the commissioner of the Department of Human Resources “abused her authority in creating a [city of Atlanta job] position for her daughter and attempting the termination of … [her daughter’s] supervisor” after the supervisor pointed out the daughter’s absenteeism. The IG deserves praise from city officials for bringing attention to this unacceptable conduct. Instead, she and her office have been targeted and obstructed every step of the way.
Manigault notes that, lately, “there have been processes and procedures put in place that have made it harder for us to do our jobs, harder for us to get access to necessary records... City departments have been given an instruction — and we have multiple cases that can speak to this — where they were told to treat the Office of Inspector General requests like open records requests.” Meanwhile, city council members such as Rep. Marci Collier Overstreet (District 11) have lambasted the IG for not going through “proper channels” nor being consulted about the corruption crisis. Overstreet should be more concerned about widespread criminal activity in city government and less concerned with how the news is delivered.
The latest proposed legislation is just the latest low blow by a group of lawmakers determined to stop the IG at all costs.
Unfortunately, Manigault is not the only IG who has faced pushback for doing her job. Baltimore city IG Isabel Cumming has taken considerable heat for standing up to Charm City’s corruption-plagued government. Cumming investigated Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, known for her lavish international trips on the taxpayer’s dime and problems accurately reporting her finances. Following the release of a report detailing Mosby’s many ethically dubious travel expenditures, Mosby’s lawyers pressured the IG office to revise the report to make the embattled attorney look better. Cumming stood firm, responding, “[n]o. I’m standing behind my report.” And, now that Mosby has been convicted of fraud and perjury, Cumming’s decision to not waver in holding her accountable looks all the better.
Cumming persisted and, during her tenure as IG, has identified tens of millions of dollars in wasteful and unnecessary spending. IG Cumming also exposed the Baltimore City Department of Public Works and its unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, which ultimately resulted in the death of a DPW employee from heat exhaustion. Cumming wouldn’t have been able to do any of this work without the Baltimore the City Council and ultimately the citizens giving her the independence to conduct her oversight work unfettered.
Neighboring Baltimore County has also had more than its fair share of hostility against government watchdogs. In a battle that began in 2021, Baltimore County officials tried to strip IG Kelly Madigan of some investigative powers and attempted to set up roadblocks for requesting information that would have effectively made the IG’s office toothless. A public pressure campaign forced Baltimore County officials to back off.
IGs such as Shannon Manigault, Kelly Madigan, and Isabel Cumming are the heroes that taxpayers absolutely do deserve. Unfortunately, lawmakers are determined to hold them back and eliminate all barriers to corruption.
Atlanta lawmakers have a stark choice. They can continue to allow corruption to fester or they can take a stand and zealously defend the IG’s independence.
David Williams is the president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
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