A vital city lead by corrupt incompetents

Yesterday I noted how shocked the local mainstream media outlet, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, was at the announcement of City of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottom's announcement that she would not contest the next election.  A great example of complete failure through AJC sycophancy, to sense that the blue electorate had turned against the blue Mayor.  

Thinking more about it later, it occurred to me just how long a list of incidents there had been on the part of Keisha Lance Bottoms, the very part-time Mayor.  Any one of which likely would have sunk her career had we had any sort of independent or competitive press.  All these incidents were reported, briefly at the time, but they were never investigated by the press.

Reported and then smothered.  Many of them we only knew of through the efforts of independent or fringe investigators or through federal investigations.

Thinking about the long list, I wondered whether anyone had pulled together any sort of record of the past three years that would highlight how great a chasm there was between the actions of Bottoms and the press adulation for her rising stardom.

In doing so, I came across an intriguing new fringe news platform.  It appears to be a leftist African American outlet, the Mainline.  I am no fan of socialism nor race based identity.  But it is independent journalism.  And they did have an article somewhat in the vein of what I was searching for,  In Regards to Keisha Lance Bottoms, pt. 1.  Well, really more an editorial than an article.  A little ironic that a classical liberal would find most of the facts in a left leaning editorial of a race pitched news outlet, but life is full of intriguing surprises.  

The editorial is lengthy so I will pull out just the pertinent elements which outline Bottoms's travesty of a political career and administration.  I was surprised at how much I had forgotten.  I also, toward the end, add in another source to which I link.

Headlines are my own.  Double indents are quotes.  See the original reporting for all links.

KLB approval of the Big Gulch Deal as her first major action as Mayor, a massive corporate give-away. From SaportaReport

The deal would see the city give its blessing to the California-based CIM Group’s plan to rebuild the Gulch — using in large part tax money that would be raised there.

“This is the best deal that a billionaire has ever struck,” said Julian Bene, a former member of the board of Invest Atlanta, the city’s official development authority. Bene sat at a table with Fort and other opponents, explaining how they see the deal and taking questions from the audience.

The CIM Group, a California-based developer, is assembling land in the Gulch with the idea of building a mixed-use development that would include some 1.8 million to 9.3 million square feet of office space alone, plus roughly 2 to nearly 3 million square feet of retail, residential and hotel space, according to a presentation prepared by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ advisors and staff. It would be arranged in 12 to 15 blocks of mostly private streets.

For context, the 55-story Bank of America Plaza is 1.3 million square feet. 

Built to maximum size, the Gulch development would cost $5 billion, according to a campaign funded by CIM under the tagline “greenlight the Gulch.” CIM would not pay for all that. A lot would be paid for by sales taxes and property taxes raised in that footprint that would normally go to the state, or schools or other levels of government.

Basically, taxes would be paid there, but for some number of years, much of that tax would be sent to CIM to reimburse construction costs. CIM needs the city’s agreement to do this.

The city says that the incentives would be capped at no more than $1.75 billion, according to a city FAQ; and that’s a number Bene has long said is wrong. He puts it closer to $2.5 billion over 30 years, based on the property taxes foregone on the value of a putative $5 billion development.

Bottoms has called the deal a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get something built in what’s now a hole in the middle of the city. She’s said that not doing the deal jeopardizes the prospect of Norfolk Southern moving here; the railroad wants to sell some of its Gulch land and spend the money on an Atlanta address.

She’s pleaded for Council to pass it and put on a public meeting to discuss it. There are some listed public benefits, like $28 million for affordable housing, a $12 million economic development fund and the developer would price some 200 or more housing units a bit below what the market can bear, in a nod to affordability.

(Another say 100 or more units — depending on the size of the buildout — would be priced much lower, and would be subsidized by the public, not the developer.)

However, nobody who spoke or asked questions on Thursday night had any truck with any of those benefits. Some people have laughed outright at the “affordable housing” units, where rent for a loft, for example, would be about $1,000. More on that here.

 

KLB is AWOL as Mayor since 2017 but willing to take on national roles.

While Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was a spotlight in the national gaze this past summer during Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s vice presidential vetting process, at one point reportedly being held in the top four spots for consideration, she’s faded a bit into the background since she delivered her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, for which she was named a permanent co-chair.  [Not permanent but a four year role.]

Failure to comply with the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission investigation concerning her campaign financing.  

“We have not received campaign bank records from the Bottoms campaign, which were subpoena’d, despite her public statements that she would provide all documents and be fully transparent,” ethics commission Executive Director David Emadi said in an email to Channel 2 Action News. Bottoms’ office has said the demands are “unlawful” and are indicative of an “overzealous prosecutor” and a hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 24. 

 

KLB AWOL at the onset of Covid-19 and then the George Floyd riots while vacationing at her $1 million Martha’s Vineyard home or doing the talk-show circuit.

Following George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis, Bottoms’ level of detachment during the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests was particularly concerning, going on multiple TV tours making numerous appearances on CNN, the Late Show with Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon, where she was swooned for being such an “impressive” leader while notably Black and a woman. Her time was spent there, away from City Hall.

 

KLB, similar to her predecessor, enjoys being chauffeured in a luxury SUV that was paid for with funds that were allocated by City Council for police vehicles.

 

KLB's close association with, and protégé of, former Mayor Kassim Reed and his administration's corruption.

Bottoms was endorsed by longtime ally and former mayor Kasim Reed, whose legacy was later discovered to consist of secret deals and reckless spending, including a December 2017 dinner in which Reed was gifted a $17,000 watch and city employees walked away with thousands of dollars in prize giveaways. 

 

KLB's notorious dependence for campaign funding from out-of-staters and commercial interests.

The majority of Bottoms’ campaign donors consists of city contractors, attorneys and law firms, business entities, and even some well-known Republicans, such as William Teague, who is listed as the owner of Baldwin Paving (originally misspelled in the campaign’s documents). Teague donated the maximum individual amount and is also the same as W. Ryan Teague who is a “team member” at Robbins Government Relations, a firm that made its own $2,800 donation, as well. Teague has been active throughout the years in political fundraising in Georgia and currently serves as the finance chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Teague has also made contributions to the Georgia Republican Party, Inc., as well as to the corporate-driven, Kemp-appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler and conservative Rep. Kevin Tanner. Additionally, of the multiple lawyers or companies owned by lawyers who donated to the Bottoms campaign is Cloverhurst LLC, which is owned by former Attorney for the City of Atlanta Jeremy Berry. Cloverhurst has also given money to Kemp and Casey Cagle campaigns. We’ve so far found no record of overlaps in Republican contributions between the Bottoms and Norwood campaigns, meaning the Republicans who donated to Bottoms did not donate to her former Republican contender.

 

The ongoing investigation of KLB for campaign improprieties after her 2017 election.  A similar investigation of her opponent Mary Norwood, was wrapped up a couple of years ago.  

The ongoing internal affairs investigation alleges the Bottoms campaign of $383,773 in financial irregularities with $300,797 of that allegedly collected outside the legal period, or after the general election period had closed. The ethics commission can get involved for a number of reasons, including but not limited to when a candidate uses city or campaign funds for personal use, not reporting personal income, or accepting more campaign donations than allowed. The committee subpoenaed the Mayor’s Office on the heels of an investigative report that was submitted by the City Auditor’s Office and City Ethics office on Nov. 4, 2019, which revealed an array of issues concerning the mayor’s transition into office.

 

The scandal over PRAD Design Build donations to her 2017 campaign. 

While there are certainly donations from individuals, many of them were tied to city contractors, as we saw in the 2017 scandal with engineering group PRAD Design Build, who touted their work at the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on their website before it was obstructed due to “security issues”. Bottoms was forced to return $25,700 worth of donations her campaign secured from the group following an FBI raid of the group’s office in Sept. 2017. This case is one prime example of what’s known as “pay-for-play,” in which companies can buy their way into owning and managing city property and gaining access to huge lines of profit, and is very likely not the first or the last. In its lowest form and complete breach of laws and ethics, this can often turn into what is simply known as bribery, as we saw riddled in the Reed administration. 

Others linked to the PRAD Design Build who also gave to Bottoms’ campaign are the JP2/PRAD Group, Roberson and Reynolds, Lohrasb Jeff Jafari, Nancy Jafari, and George Reynolds. Jeff Jafari was on the host committee for one of Bottoms’ fundraising events in 2017 and is listed as a representative of the newly formed Airport Retail Concessions Group. The Jafaris and Reynolds all previously gave to Reed’s campaign, and no one linked to the PRAD Group gave to other mayoral candidates. It was reported by the AJC in October 2017 that the PRAD Group has been paid at least $60 million by the city for work from 2009 to 2014. Since 2015, PRAD and its partners have billed the city another $39 million.

The scandal from Hartsfield Jackson Airport financial shenanigans.

A lot of the money in Bottoms’ campaign leads back to the airport, which was expanded under Jackson’s administration and essentially tipped the scales for big business in politics in Atlanta. In June 2018, Bottoms appointed Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Roosevelt Council to serve as the city’s Chief Financial Officer. Council once served as an interim CFO for the city before joining the airport in 2016; both positions were during the Reed administration. Council was nominated to serve as the airport’s general manager by Reed and was confirmed by City Council in a unanimous vote.

[snip]

To shed light on why so many contractors linked to the airport may feel compelled to bend laws or ethics to get money to a certain political candidate, according to a 2017 report from the Intercept, “A number of major contractors that do business with Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport — the world’s busiest airport and an entity the city oversees — used shell companies and other means to boost their donations to Bottoms into the tens of thousands. The concession contracts, to operate fast food restaurants and other franchises, are a multibillion-dollar opportunity for vendors.” 

 While the legal contribution limit for an individual to a mayoral candidate is $2,600, there appears to be numerous contributions above that limit at $2,800, as well as many individuals who are linked to greater entities. Shell companies are ones that exist only on paper, with no office or employees, but usually have a bank account to hold and transfer funds. In some instances, companies listed on Bottoms’ donor list, such as Will C. Adams LLC and Aries 2.0 Management Group, appear to be fake with no website, no real address, and no identifiable owner. Other donors listed appear to have misspelled names or company names. There are also instances when an individual donated twice, such as the case with A-National Limousine Service, a company that provides ground transportation services mainly to Hartsfield-Jackson and is owned by Darrell Anderson. Anderson made combined contributions of $3,000 and was able to do so under his name and the name of the company separately.

 

Ruthless exploitation of Atlanta's Office of Contract Compliance’s Equal Business Opportunity Program for political gain.

Contribution forms show that many of the $105,000 raised from January to June 2020 for Bottoms’ re-election campaign involved the Mayor’s Office of Contract Compliance’s Equal Business Opportunity Program, which was founded under Mayor Jackson’s administration and later rocked by scandal during Reed’s administration. The program seeks to provide minority-owned and women-owned businesses equal opportunity to obtain city contracts, setting aside 25% of all contracts for minority-owned and women-owned firms. However, in the past, these contracts were given to the financially and politically connected. Today, the range of contracts and work completed for the City of Atlanta by these companies range from public works to the airport itself, which has seen its share of scandals connected to this program.

 

Disregard of ethics.

Bottoms’ campaign website features a page entitled “Ethics and Transparency Reform Act of 2018,” which isn’t anything more than a statement and is not indicative of any actual legislation. In this page, Bottoms pledges 10 things she would do as mayor to ensure greater ethics and transparency, such as ensuring contracting improprieties will not be tolerated, appointing an independent auditor to do a complete audit in the city’s procurement process in her first act as mayor, independently funding a Chief Compliance Officer, and introduce a City of Atlanta version of the “Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public Act,” or “T.R.U.M.P. Act.” 

While City Council has recently passed new legislation to hire a new inspector general to further transparency in City Hall that includes a new Chief Compliance Officer appointment and will operate independently, there has been no ultimate fulfillment of creating a fully ethical and transparent government in City Hall. In fact, Bottoms’ transition into City Hall was an example of contradictions to her claims to ethics. 

 

Bottoms' Transition Debacle in 2017

After she was elected, the torch was passed from the Reed administration to Bottoms to oversee the handling of billions of dollars worth of city contracts and taxpayer dollars. One of the first concerns was transitioning Bottoms and her team into the Mayor’s Office. On Dec. 17, 2017, Reed provided the former human resources commissioner with a hand-written list of six campaign workers, including their desired salaries written on then-Councilmember Bottoms’ City Council letterhead. Of them, one employee, Marva Lewis, was paid $22,638.87 from airport funds, which was later reimbursed from the city’s general fund, according to the November 2019 investigative report from the City Auditor’s Office and City Ethics Office. That investigation further shows that six employees were paid salaries prior to Bottoms taking office and prior to city employment, making them political hires. 

According to the AJC, all employees received job titles that corresponded to that target salary, which in Lewis’ case was the title of Airport Deputy General Manager. The ethics investigative report shows that Lewis was transferred to the chief of staff position effective on Dec. 18, 2017, at the salary listed in Bottoms’ handwritten note. However, at the time the transfer was processed, the pay range for the position was capped at a maximum of $239,666. Council later approved a grade amendment submitted by the Department of Human Resources to up that pay range for the position on Aug. 29, 2018, retroactively effective on Dec. 14, 2017. In effect, new legislation made something legal and technically ethical after the lines had already been crossed. Even then, the amendment capped the pay grade at $273,881, which is interestingly just eight dollars more than the target salary listed for the Airport Deputy General position. The employee’s desired salary on the initial handwritten note was $275,000. 

[snip] 

The report shows that the six employees plus two others were hired without undergoing all of the city’s pre-employment screening procedures. It also showed that personnel files lacked key documents, including employee applications and evidence that background checks were completed for all staff. 

Pre-employment processes are in place to ensure that employees hired by the city are qualified for the jobs they wish to fulfill, and the files from the investigation contained no documentation to indicate candidates were aligned to position requirements. Although it was later provided that background checks had been completed for the employees, seven of the eight lacked key required documents such as written authorizations to fill the positions, employee applications, authorizations to complete a background check, and employment eligibility verification forms.

The city also attempted to provide six staff members with “sign on bonus” checks without tax or other deductions. Those checks were subsequently voided as City Code does not authorize human resources to give bonuses that are not specifically permitted by the code. 

 

KLB's willingness to ignore the law when politically expedient.

Bottoms doesn’t have an issue violating city charter, as we saw in her appointment of former Councilmember Kwanza Hall. In November 2019, the AJC reported that Hall was hired as a $137,000-a-year advisor to Bottoms, despite a charter provision “prohibiting elected officials from city employment within a year of leaving office.” Hall’s hiring was confirmed to be illegal and Bottoms declined to be interviewed for the story. 

 

KLB's history of liens forcing her to pay her taxes.

Consider that the state of Georgia, Fulton County, City of Atlanta, Regency Park HOA and Guilford Forest HOA were all forced to go to Fulton County Superior Court for payment by filing property liens – all while Mrs. Bottoms was an Atlanta City Council member.

    Click to enlarge.

 

The unexplained source of KLB's financial wealth given her public sector career.

Her Martha’s Vineyard property was purchased in June 2016 for $1,010,000. She financed it with a mortgage of $808,000, implying a down payment of $202,000.

By all impressions Mrs. Bottoms was struggling financially based on her history of property liens and certainly has a terrible credit record. How could she possibly borrow nearly $1 million on a vacation home with her credit history? What did she disclose to the lender and the seller? How did she find the house and lender to begin with? Did the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank not know her credit history? Where did the down-payment come from?

 KLB's disregard for conflicts of interest.

The seller [of her Martha's Vinyard property] appears to be an executive with Cantor-Fitzgerald based on the best research available. This would be very problematic, if true, given that the Atlanta Firefighters Pension Fund is a plaintiff against Cantor-Fitzgerald in Anti-Trust litigation (1:15-cv-07111-PGG) in the Southern District of New York.

Mrs. Bottoms serves as a city trustee on the Atlanta Firefighters Pension Fund. Investment firms generally are promoting themselves to do business with the city, so I’d like to understand if the firm was pursuing work with the city and if in fact the firm is currently providing services that generate income to the firm. If you don’t know the history, the previous investment consultant to the Pension Fund has been charged by the Securities & Exchange Commission for defrauding the Pension Fund.

Well, that's quite the record.  I knew I was adamantly opposed to a second Bottoms' term and knew I had good reason for that opposition but I was a little hazy on the details.  A ten minute search brought it all back.  The key thing, though, is that I knew this was out there even though I couldn't recall all the details.

Why the mainstream media has never investigated any of this or let any of these stories go for more than a couple of days is a mystery.  Atlanta is a great city with great residents.  It deserves an honest, competent, dependable administration.  Hopefully we are closer to that with the stepping down of this most recent scion of the recent Mayoral traditions of corruption and incompetence.