Savage finding Braves’ Stadium deal questions an uphill
fight by Dick Yarbrough
He has about as much of a chance of succeeding as I do
getting a group hug from a bunch of liberal weenies, but give the man credit
for making the effort.
Larry Savage, a retired businessman and former candidate for
the Cobb County Commission chair, is fighting an uphill battle to get more
public involvement into the financing of the new $672 million Atlanta Braves stadium
deal, including the county borrowing up to $397 million without seeking voter
approval. I had a cup of coffee recently with Savage to hear him out.
Savage has filed two complaints with the Cobb County Ethics
Commission, charging that county commissioners have acted unethically in
approving funding for new Braves stadium without the public’s input. Both
complaints were summarily dismissed.
“The first complaint was dismissed with minimal discussion,”
he says. “The second one seems to have been dismissed with no discussion at
all. I was not allowed to speak and the members didn’t ask questions, which I
thought was an unusual way to conduct an investigation.”
I found it strange Savage was denied the opportunity to
speak when a couple of months later, Cobb attorney Gary Pelphrey was allowed by
the ethics commission to make his case on nine separate allegations of ethical misconduct
by Chairman Tim Lee. Then members spent time discussing each of the nine
complaints before voting unanimously against them all.
I called the ethics board’s attorney, J. Lynn Rainey, for
some
clarification. Rainey had recused himself from both hearings
because he is the attorney for the Cumberland Community Improvement District,
which has committed $10 million to the stadium project.
The Code of Ethics is a two-step process,” Rainey says. “The
first is an investigative review to look at the substance of the complaint and
see if the members form a reasonable belief there may be a violation. If so,
they then set a time, date and place for a hearing.”
He concedes the board could have handled the two complaints
more consistently. Rainey said that while Mr. Pelphrey was “more assertive” in asking
to speak to his complaints and provided more input than that to which he was
entitled, he believes the board considered both matters properly.
Rainey tells me that while the ethics commission is required
to meet twice a year, this was only the third time the group has heard any
formal complaints. Obviously, they are a bit new at this and it showed in the contrast
between the Savage and Pelphrey hearings. The Cobb County Ethics Commission clearly needs to get its act together.
Undaunted, Savage continues on. He says the Georgia
Constitution is clear the county cannot incur debt without the consent of the
voters.
“They will claim the county is not incurring debt,” Savage
says. “Their cover will be to have the debt issued by the Galleria Authority.
However, the Authority doesn’t have any money to pay the debt because they have
written into the agreement that their existing properties are not touchable.
The only way they get the money is for the county to give it to them.”
Savage says there is also a provision in the state
Constitution that the power of taxation cannot be used in servicing the debt of
revenue bonds and that such projects are supposed to be self-funding. Revenue
bond principal and interest can only be paid with revenue from the project.
“This project will yield about $6 million a year from the
Braves in rent,” Savage claims, “and the debt will be about $25 million a year.
The difference is going to have to come from the county.”
While the process is complicated, Savage says the issue is
simple, “Cobb County either can or cannot take on $400 million in debt without
the public’s approval. That is the essential issue. If office holders want to do
these things and nobody wants to bear the burden of opposing them, we are
setting a dangerous precedent.”
On July 7, Cobb Superior Court Judge Tain Kell will hold a
hearing on validation of the bonds to finance the new Braves stadium. Will
there be a legal challenge? Savage says, “I hear a lot of people talking about
it. I couldn’t begin to afford it. County officials have put out word they have
an ample war chest.” But don’t be surprised to see him pursue the issue
through until the end, which is likely to be in the Supreme
Court of Georgia.
Larry Savage knows the odds are steep but that doesn’t stop
him from trying. As we were leaving, I asked him if he felt like Don Quixote
tilting at windmills. “No,” he says, “I feel like David fighting Goliath and Goliath
has all the rocks.” I like this guy.
Source: Marietta Daily Journal, 06.27.14 - 10:23 pm
http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/18966091-Dick_Yarbrough
*You can reach Dick Yarbrough at yarb2400@bellsouth.net
<yarb2400@bellsouth.net>; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta,
Georgia 31139; online at dickyarbrough.com <http://dickyarbrough.com> or
on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/dickyarb
<http://www.facebook.com/dickyarb> *
Comments
Private sector companies are obligated to their shareholders
to make their expansion plans, so that their future operations show a
profit. The Cobb County Commission
doesn’t act that way. They made a deal
with the Atlanta Braves that will require heavy debt and subsidies payable by
the taxpayers, who didn’t even get a vote on the Bond. Making the deal without enough parking and
extra roads to handle the expected game traffic would make heads roll in the
real world. Grownups in the voter ranks need to demand a thorough, well
thought-out plan to consider before contracts are signed. This “ready-fire-aim” brand of private-public
scam will lose its luster permanently. Do I hear “taxation without
representation” from the voters ?
The problem with fighting this through the courts is that
the Gold Dome has been quietly passing “do whatever the hell you want” laws for
decades that allow cities and counties to do “whatever the hell they want”.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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