Public agencies hit with ethics complaint over Amendment 2 support
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008It’s one thing for a public agency to argue in support of a cause, says a honest-government watchdog group. It’s another to contribute cash, however.
Common Cause Georgia yesterday filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission against several public agencies — including the Atlanta Housing Authority, Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District — that allege the groups contributed nearly $125,000 to Georgians for Community Redevelopment, a booster group that is campaigning in favor of Amendment 2 on the General Election Ballot.
A successful passage of Amendment 2 would allow school boards to participate in tax allocation districts, a somewhat controversial redevelopment mechanism that uses future increases in property taxes to pay off bonds sold to build infrastructure in blighted areas. TADs have been used throughout the state since 1985 — most notably at Atlantic Station. In February, however, the state Supreme Court ruled that the use of educational funds — in this case, the school’s portion of property taxes — for redevelopment purposes violated the state Constitution.
“Common Cause Georgia fully acknowledges the right of the development community to lobby for the passage of this constitutional amendment,” Bill Bozarth of Common Cause Georgia said in a statement. “That is free speech, and we take no issue with that. However, we do take issue with doing so in violation of the law. We are filing our complaint with the State Ethics Commission because we believe that Georgians for Community Development – a campaign committee organized for the purpose of gaining voter approval of Constitutional Amendment 2, has accepted contributions from several public agencies which are clearly prohibited by Georgia statute from contributing to this kind of political activity.”
The AJC has more on the story here.
After the jump, the full release from Common Cause and links to the recently filed complaints.
