InsiderAdvantage has been following the expanded city of Atlanta bribery/contracting probe by the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI that includes scrutiny of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport contracts. That’s why it’s no surprise that state Sen. Burt Jones and other lawmakers have suggested that the world’s busiest airport might be more honest, efficient and transparent if taken away from city control, with its 30 year-plus history of corruption, and given state-run authority oversight.
In this vein, the state Senate passed S.R. 882 which established the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Operations and Authority Creation Study Committee. Yesterday, Senate presiding officer Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle appointed the following senators to serve on the panel:
Chairman Jones, Brandon Beach, Gloria Butler, Mike Dugan, Ed Harbison, Tyler Harper, Steve Gooch, John Kennedy, David Lucas, Butch Miller, Jeff Mullis, Valencia Seay, and Freddie Powell-Sims.
“Hartsfield-Jackson is a major asset to our state, and it’s been bringing new businesses and jobs to communities across Georgia for decades. But to maximize this asset’s potential, it’s vitally important we continue evaluating the state’s involvement and role in the airport’s operations.” said Jones. “I commend Lt. Governor Cagle for his strong leadership in guiding our state’s economy to achieve record job growth, and I’m optimistic this committee’s work will only strengthen that momentum going forward.”
When Jones talks about “evaluating the state’s involvement,” it is a reminder that the airport ranks as perhaps the worst in the United States as measured by longtime cronyism and corruption evidenced by a long history of shady and illegal vendor practices.
In November 2004 an InsiderAdvantage poll revealed that, by a 2-to-1 margin, Atlantans who had an opinion about business practices at the Atlanta’s international airport said that the city was unfair or corrupt when awarding contracts to its vendors. Soliciting opinions of 300 residents in the metro area during the first mayoral term of Shirley Franklin, the poll found two-thirds of the adults in metro Atlanta viewed the methods “for awarding contracts and vendor rights” as “politically motivated and corrupt.”
When asked about that poll, former Georgia attorney General Mike Bowers – who once assisted in filing an illegal bid-rigging lawsuit over airport contracting— commented that “this poll just shows what most people already know, that the airport administration is corrupt as hell.”
That cloud over city hall continued during the term of Mayor Kasim Reed when the city agreed to a $3.9 million settlement with businessman Billy Corey and his company Corey Airport Services. The city admitted no liability or wrongdoing in denying an airport advertising contract bid to Corey. Yet the previous year a federal court ruling flatly declared that the city had participated in “an evil” conspiracy against Corey with the winning bidder Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising Inc. and its minority partner, businesswoman Barbara Fouch. Insiders tell us not much has changed with airport vendor contracting practices since the Corey case.
