1) The Lovely Eggs play Star Bar.
2) A Requiem in the Garden opens at Gallery Stokes.
3) Nophest kicks off at WonderRoot.
4) Georgia Tech professor Michael Dobbins discusses Urban Design & People at Barnes & Noble.
5) Dancing Monkey Cabaret presents Monkey Beach Party at Academy Theatre.
(Photo courtesy Cherryade Records)
Maria Saporta got Mayor Franklin’s take on the flap over a memo by Aaron Turpeau, in which the longtime political operative calls for black Atlantans to throw their support behind Lisa Borders for mayor in order to prevent a victory by the very white Mary Norwood.
Here’s what Shirley told Saporta:
As the current mayor of Atlanta and someone who has sought to represent the best interests of the entire city and all the constitutents in my performance, policies and management style, I believe Turpeau has it all wrong and has missed the mark.
Franklin challenges Turpeau’s implication that the late Maynard Jackson’s legacy lies in having won City Hall for black residents and it’s up to African Americans now to band together to make sure thay don’t have to give it back:
Jackson opened doors and kept the doors open for all Atlantans and people of good will to particpate regardless of race, social status or other political party. His consensus building success are legendary.
Turpeau tells a lopsided version of the history of Atlanta politics of the last 40 years and the civic history of Atlanta for decades.
So far, the only interested party yet to be heard from is Norwood. If I were her, I’d take the phone off the hook and lay low. Ironic as it may seem, she is likely the main beneficiary from all this fuss.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Kasim Reed is not happy with memo
The Atlanta mayor’s race has just blown up with a controversy whose fallout could well linger over the rest of the election season. Sometime yesterday, an incendiary bomb in the form of an e-mail went out calling on African American leaders across town to throw their support behind a single black candidate for mayor in order to head off a victory by Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who is painfully white.
The e-mail cites WSB polls showing Council President Lisa Borders gaining support to trail closely behind Norwood while state Sen. Kasim Reed remains trailing in the single digits. On the strength of the numbers, the e-mail author invites the recipients to join him in supporting Borders for mayor.
Reed is taking the missive seriously enough that he quickly retaliated with a statement calling the e-mail’s message “divisive,” “vitriolic” and “racist.”
And who is author? None other than Aaron Turpeau, a longtime political operative who could be considered the most prominent remaining gear in the old “Maynard Machine.” Turpeau worked on Jackson’s first two campaigns for mayor, then for both of Andrew Young’s successful bids, and then for Jackson’s third go-around.
But Turpeau, wasn’t simply Jackson’s appendage. Despite his longtime boss’ endorsement of Bill Campbell, Turpeau worked for both of Campbell’s opponents, Michael Lomax and Marvin Arrington. He later jumped on board Shirley Franklin’s campaign, which gave fuel to critics who dismissed Franklin as the “machine candidate.”
Turpeau hadn’t signed on to work with any mayoral hopefuls this time, a fact which stirred the curiosity of many political observers.
Obviously, however, Turpeau isn’t content to sit on the sidelines. In a follow-up memo (view PDF here), he elaborates on his position, which he calls, in a striking display of candor, the “Black Mayor first” approach:
1. There is a chance for the first time in 25 years that African Americans could lose the Mayoral seat in Atlanta, Georgia, especially if there is a run-off;
2. Time is of the essence because in order to defeat a Norwood (white) mayoral candidacy we have to get out now and work in a manner to defeat her without a runoff, and the key is a significant Black turnout in the general election;
(more…)
A view from the West Georgia Hot Air Balloon Show & Tractor Show.
(Photo by Eric Foster/Flickr)
President Sonny Perdue. It’s got a nice and rather frightening ring to it, dontcha think?
An Insider Advantage piece that says the governor’s rumored to be lining up a post-office position as University of Georgia president recently caught the eyes of those rapscallions at the Marietta Daily Journal. Here’s some of what the MDJ cribbed from the IA article, which is now available only for subscribers:
As the storyline goes, Perdue — who is joined at the hip with UGA President Michael Adams — would consider being named by the Board of Regents as president of the University of Georgia at the end of his term. In exchange for the creation of an open seat via the resignation of Adams, Adams would then be in strong consideration to become the system’s new chancellor. Sound crazy? Well … so did borrowing $21 million in the middle of a world financial meltdown. But Perdue pulled that one off didn’t he?
A commenter at the AJC’s Political Insider column speculates that Perdue’s recent appointment of former House Majority Leader and Georgia Department of Transportation board member Larry Walker to the Board of Regents could help the governor transition from one mansion to another. The two are old buddies.
Perdue’s a UGA alum and would probably be delighted to be one of the few university graduates lucky enough to find a job in the Classic City after throwing his cap in the air. Even if it’s 40 years after the fact.
Kevin Hudson
East Point City Council Ward A at-large candidate Kevin Hudson has announced his withdrawal from the race and his immediate endorsement of Sharonda Hubbard.
Hudson was a political newcomer when he was appointed to Council in May 2007 after Gov. Sonny Perdue suspended Councilman Gregory Fann from his post because of an ethics violation investigation.
In March 2007, Fann was indicted by a Fulton County Grand Jury for allegedly using city crews and equipment to conduct work on his property four years earlier. He later pleaded guilty — not to the felony counts but to three misdemeanors. He received three years probation, 180 hours of community service and $3,000 in fines.
Since Fann’s suspension was contingent on the felony counts only, he returned to Council in March of this year, replacing Hudson, who later announced his candidacy.
Hudson spoke to CL before officially announcing his withdrawal, saying, “I was apprehensive but excited to have the opportunity to serve two years on Council as an appointed member, and thought I would want to continue for another four years. But since I’ve had these months away from city business, I’ve remembered there’s much more in my life than that.”
1) The Incredible Sandwich plays Sweetwater Brewing Company.
2) Grey Gardens opens at Actor’s Express.
3) The Lucid Eye: Photographs from the Collection of Arnall Golden Gregory opens at Emory Visual Arts Gallery.
4) Tiffany plays Andrew’s Upstairs.
5) Kiang Gallery holds an opening reception for Art Wants New Home.
(Photo courtesy Nathan Rodriquez)
Last week, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine was touting a Rasmussen poll that indicated he was leading the GOP race for governor — with a solid 10 months to go before the primary, mind you.
Well, now the Ox is trumpeting another poll, this one by San Diego-based Strategic Vision, that again shows him with a comfortable lead. According to the results, Oxendine is polling at 39 percent — more than the five other Republican candidates put together. The undecideds come in at about 25 percent.
Just like last time, Oxendine’s campaign manager Tim Echols claims his candidate is “humbled by these results,” which I don’t believe for an instant.
Does the name above seem vaguely familiar but you can’t recall why? That’s because, if you voted in the 2004 Democratic primary, you saw Squires’ name on the ballot at the end of a list of eight candidates for U.S. Senate.
At the time, Squires, then 46, had served less than one term in the state Senate after three tours of duty in the House. Despite her political experience, a shoe-leather campaign in which she went door-to-door across the state, and a weak slate of opponents, Squires got clobbered. Receiving only 9 percent of the vote, she came in fifth behind U.S. Rep. Denise Majette (who’d claimed God told her to run), self-funded businessman Cliff Oxford, a little-known Vinings attorney, and a perennial candidate who didn’t bother to campaign.
Well, Squires is back, baby. She’ll kick off her new campaign for insurance commissioner at The Loft music venue in the CW Midtown complex tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. Despite five years out of the spotlight, she seems to have maintained her political connections. Joining her on the podium as special guest is former Sen. Max Cleland, and her host committee boasts numerous state legislators, including Reps. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, Karla Drenner and Joe Heckstal; and Sens. Emanuel Jones, Doug Stoner and Curt Thompson.
This time out, Squires is much better positioned to make it through next June’s primary. For starters, she has only one declared opponent so far, state Rep. Keith Heard, D-Athens. And, unlike several of the Republicans going for the job, she’s an insurance industry veteran, serving as executive director of the Georgia Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, a trade and lobbying organization. (Heard, too, it should be noted, has worked in insurance.)
If you decide to join Max and the gang in welcoming Squires back to politics, remember that a contribution of $150 is “suggested,” so don’t show up empty-handed expecting to hit the hors d’oeuvre tray.
So, what’s news?
CL’s Chanté LaGon and Thomas Wheatley discuss the equity auction that took place on Tues., Aug. 25, where Atalaya Capital Management gained ownership of Creative Loafing Inc. from former CEO Ben Eason. Wheatley goes into detail about what took place at the auction as well as the events that led up to Creative Loafing Inc. filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2008.
Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.
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1) MacHomer opens at Georgia Shakespeare.
2) The Flaming Lips play Chastain Park Amphitheatre.
3) The Underground Atlanta Film Festival kicks off.
4) The Queer Literary Fiction Book Group meets at Charis Books & More.
5) The Rescues play Eddie’s Attic.
(Photo by Michael Cooper Photographic Shoots)
Music, food, dancing and cultural pride was the order of the day at the annual FREE Festival Peachtree Latino, which took over Underground Atlanta and surrounding streets on Sunday, August 23, 2009.
Check out our Festival Peachtree Latino photo gallery for more pics.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Oh, you thought I was talking about the DOJ exempting the Peach State from the strictures of the Voting Rights Act of 1965? Don’t make me laugh. No, this time the feds have lifted their investigation into whether Georgia courts were discriminating against Muslims, burn victims and the Invisible Man.
Confused? We’ll let Georgia Supreme Court spokesperson Jane Hansen explain:
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has closed its review of how Georgia courts handle the wearing of religious head coverings. The review is no longer necessary based on a new policy that permits headgear in court worn for religious or medical reasons, says a recent letter from a Justice Department official. Last month, the Judicial Council of Georgia – the policy-making body of Georgia’s courts – unanimously adopted the measure to take effect in every court in Georgia.
You may recall that, last month, the Judicial Council of Georgia, the policy-making body for Georgia courts, ruled that head-coverings worn for religious or medical purposes — such as the hijab worn by Muslim women — would be allowed in Georgia courtrooms.
Apparently, the issue was raised last year when some doofus city court judge in Douglasville ordered a Muslim woman jailed for contempt of court after she refused to remove her headscarf.
This doesn’t mean you can wear a sombrero or a foam cheesehead hat into court, as Hanson explains:
The new policy balances a court’s security concerns with a person’s right to practice his or her faith in public. Baseball caps and other headgear will continue to be banned from courtrooms, but head coverings worn for religious or medical reasons will be permitted. If a security search is deemed necessary, it can be conducted privately by a security guard of the same gender.
Granted, I didn’t even realize Georgia was under review by the DOJ. But now that we’re free from Big Brother’s oppression, doesn’t it feel good?
Ben Eason
(Updates below, with additional reporting by Thomas Wheatley.)
… Atalaya Capital Management.
The auction, which began this morning, determined who will control Creative Loafing Inc.’s six newspapers, which compose the nation’s second-largest altweekly chain. It also marks the end of CLI’s yearlong bankruptcy.
Outgoing CEO Ben Eason lost control of the company his parents founded in 1972 to the New York hedge fund from whom he borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper.
Atalaya won the auction with a $5 million cash bid. Eason’s highest offer was a $2.3 million bid, nearly $1.5 million of which was “in-kind contributions.” Had Eason won, he also would have had to repay Atalaya at least $12 million.
Reporters, CLI managers, and Eason family members filled the courtroom to capacity.
Bankruptcy Judge Caryl E. Delano opened the equity auction with CLI’s bid. Tyler Brown, representing Atalaya, asked the judge if bids needed to be entered in increments of $50,000, to which Delano replied they did. People who might have been prepared for a game of one-upmanship were then disappointed, as Brown submitted Atalaya’s bid of $5 million in cash.
CLI’s lawyers asked for a brief recess.
When the recess ended and Delano returned to the bench, CLI’s lawyers asked her to close the auction. They wanted to argue that Atalaya’s bid might have been the “highest,” but it wasn’t necessarily the “best.” If Atalaya gained control of the company, they said, there was no guarantee that the hedge fund wouldn’t split the company into pieces and sell off the papers.
UPDATE: We have a winner.
In case you haven’t heard, today is equity auction day!
Creative Loafing reporter extraordinaire Thomas Wheatley is in sunny Tampa to cover what might be the final chapter in Creative Loafing Inc.’s yearlong bankruptcy saga. Wheatley’s first update is posted a little further down — hold on! — and he will continue to offer dispatches throughout the day.
First, to bring you up to speed: The auction pits current CLI CEO Ben Eason, whose family founded Creative Loafing 37 years ago, against Eason’s biggest creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, from whom Eason borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007. Eason has said the burden of the loan forced him to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.
If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya back at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a bid of $2.5 million or higher). The remainder of the $18 million owed Atalaya — if there is any — will be written off.
Wheatley reports that Eason’s opening bid is $2.3 million, including $825,000 cash and the remainder in “in-kind contributions.” Yesterday, Atalaya filed a motion contesting the contributions, but the judge ruled this morning that they were admissible. Atalaya then reserved the right to challenge them later today.
Following Eason’s opening bid, Wheatley reports, Atalaya upped the ante: $5 million cash, on top of including the $2 million cash and $1 million line of credit it already promised in its own opening bid.
Eason’s attorney then asked for a brief break.
1) Jana Hunter plays 529.
2) Jonathan Tropper discusses This Is Where I Leave You at Decatur Library.
3) Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire perform at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.
4) Eric Jerome Dickey discusses Resurrecting Midnight at Barnes & Noble.
5) Inspired by Motion continues at Swan Coach House Gallery.
(Photo © Adam Mitchell)
UPDATE: The auction is now underway.
On the eve of the Aug. 25 equity auction that will determine who controls Creative Loafing Inc., Creative Loafing’s biggest creditor is trying to disqualify current CL CEO Ben Eason’s bid. If the creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, is successful, it will automatically win control of the company.
Either way, the rightful owner of the six-newspaper chain will almost certainly be determined tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Tampa, the culmination of a yearlong bankruptcy-court battle that pitted Eason against Atalaya, the investment firm from whom he borrowed $30 million to purchase the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007.
This showdown is heating up!
Atalaya’s objection offers a glimpse of Eason’s bid, which it calls “facially incomprehensible.” Neither Atalaya’s nor Eason’s bid — the only two that were accepted by the court — has been made public.
The rules of the auction state that prospective bidders must match Atalaya’s opening bid amount of $2.2 million. Bids can be a combination of cash and “in-kind contributions.” Basically, Atalaya is contesting the contributions portion of Eason’s bid.
If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a $2.5 million bid at auction). The remainder of the original $30 million loan will be written off.
Here’s Atalaya’s objection to Eason’s bid:
Atlanta City Council District 6 candidate Alex Wan has resigned from the Atlanta Development Authority Board to clear up any perception of a conflict of interest and focus his energy on the crowded race to represent the Midtown, Candler Park and Virginia-Highland neighborhoods.
From a Wan campaign press release:
“Before officially qualifying, I wanted to further demonstrate my absolute commitment to the people of District 6 and ensure there was no perception of a conflict between my ADA service and my City Council campaign,” he says. “It has been a privilege and an honor to serve ADA and the city of Atlanta since my appointment by City Council in 2006, working for the economic improvement of the city of Atlanta. I have learned so much from my fellow Board members and the incredible ADA staff, and I intend to put that experience to work for our great city’s future.”
…
Wan’s decision to resign from the ADA’s board was clarified by legislation passed by City Council on August 17, stating that candidates for citywide office cannot serve on the boards of entities such as ADA.
In July, some district residents voiced concerns that Wan and Liz Coyle, one of his opponents in the Nov. 3 election, served on the ADA and Atlanta Beltline Inc. boards while also running for office. Coyle resigned from her post last week.
Wan faces Bahareh Azizi, Steve Brodie, Tad Christian, Liz Coyle and Miguel Gallegos.
(Courtesy Alex Wan For Atlanta)
Over the weekend, Congressman Nathan Deal, R-Gainesville, became the second major GOP candidate for governor to be dinged by an AJC investigative piece.
The first, of course, was John Oxendine, when the paper revealed back in May that our state insurance commissioner had accepted $120,000 in arguably illegal campaign contributions from dummy PACs controlled by an insurance company CEO whom Oxendine had repeatedly appointed to an influential industry board.
That didn’t look too good for Oxendine, a politician who’s long been dogged by whispered allegations of influence-peddling.
Deal, on the other hand, is a former judge who’s enjoyed a pretty clean reputation. But his free ride may have ended Sunday. Here’s the lead from the AJC piece:
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, personally intervened with Georgia leaders to preserve an obscure state program that earns his company nearly $300,000 a year.
The article goes on to describe how Deal seemed to be using his office and that of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — his fellow Gainesvillian — to intimidate state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham from altering a program through which Deal’s auto-salvage business had enjoyed two decades’ worth of no-bid state patronage.
After noticeably excluding them from his July 23 closed-door meeting with business bigwigs and local and state government officials, Gov. Sonny Perdue will reach out to some of the state’s leading environmental advocates tomorrow to discuss Georgia’s water woes.
Perdue’s invited approximately 10 environmental advocates, including the executive directors of such organizations as the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia Conservation Voters and the Georgia Wildlife Federation, to join him in his office at 10 a.m.
1. AJC moving to metro Atlanta’s real downtown (The daily will be abandoning its intown digs for a new, OTP office. Yep.)
2. Lisa Borders up in latest mayoral poll (Though Councilwoman Mary Norwood still holds the lead, Council Prez Borders appears to be making progress. Someone’s pissed.)
3. Creative Loafing Inc. and its largest creditor will duke it out next week (The fate of the six-newspaper chain will be determined at an equity auction TOMORROW. Stay tuned.)
4. Threesome assault defense, ‘Ah jest wanted to watch’ (Total weirdness.)
5. Troy Davis deserves hearing, says Supremes (Somebody — the U.S. Supreme Court, no less! — is finally granting the longtime death row inmate a hearing on his innocence claims.)
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
The Camak Stone, seen here in an undated photograph, was swiped from Tennessee over the weeked
Hark! The Camak Stone, a 14,000-year-old relic placed upon the invisible line separating Georgia from our fellow apes in Tennessee, hath gone missingeth!
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that a volunteer for nearby State Line Cemetery, Freddie McCulley, noticed the [Camak Stone] was gone after discovering some vandalism at the cemetery.
A surveyor placed the Camak Stone in 1826 at what he thought was the 35th parallel marking the border between Tennessee and Georgia. The marker has become a source of controversy between the two states in a battle for water rights in the Tennessee River.
Georgia lawmakers have argued off and on since 1818 that the state’s border was actually a couple of clicks farther to the north — which would mean we’d have dibs on the Tennessee River and it bounteous flows. In 2008, some bills were introduced and a commission to discuss the matter was supposed to convene. But from what we’ve heard, there hasn’t been much movement on the issue.
But something strange is afoot.
