The news media, watchdog groups, taxpayers and even Georgia’s legislature will certainly be watching to see how an ongoing city hall bribery/contracting scandal unfolds now that outgoing Mayor Atlanta Kasim Reed is being succeed by Keisha Lance Bottoms. After all, two construction contractors have already pleaded guilty to bribery/conspiracy charges and U.S. Attorney B.J. Pak said last week that his office is following new leads from “several conspirators” including the two contractors.
Here’s the big question: Will the new mayor and City Council continue business as usual or agree to contracting fairness, transparency and reform? Observers will especially be looking at the historically shady and corrupt city procurement system involving lucrative contracts at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the busiest airport in the world. (The Reed administration’s chief procurement officer, Adam Smith, was fired and is now sitting in jail for taking bribes involving contracts— and the feds are still investigating this angle.)
So in this context, at least two state lawmakers are weighing a study committee or even legislation regarding establishment of a state-run airport board or authority to help buffer the influence of politics and money.
State Rep. John Carson, R-Marietta, told this writer he is studying the idea. So, too, is state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, and possibly other state legislators.
Then-U.S. Congressman (now Georgia’s senior U.S. senator) Johnny Isakson proposed such a state-run airport authority back in 2001 to take it out of the hands of Atlanta city hall, but the idea died on the vine. Carson and others think it may be a good time to revisit that proposal, especially since Atlanta is about the last major city in the country without such an airport authority.
