Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive!
For example, when Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. was pushing for a new James Brown Arena to be built at Regency Mall, he said he didn’t know who paid for billboards urging voters to vote yes for that site in an upcoming straw poll.
The billboards showed up almost overnight. One morning, right before the May 22, 2018, non-binding straw poll on the arena site, folks driving to work from south Augusta and west Augusta looked out their vehicle windows, and there they were. Some had a big check mark in the “Yes” box, and two billboards were of artist’s rendering of an arena with a roof that looked like a giant taco.
Davis also said he didn’t know who paid for a summit of realtors, developers, business leaders and stakeholders such as James McKinnon, son-in-law of mall owner Alan Cardinale, who met in Augusta in March 2017, and focused on redeveloping Gordon Highway and the abandoned Regency Mall area.
But now Davis’ tangled web of deceit about his role in financing the summit with taxpayers’ money is being revealed by The Augusta Press. His motive, however, is still unknown.
But maybe the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission will untangle it all in its inquiry that began in 2018. That inquiry has broadened to include an investigation of Davis and Tonia Gibbons, his former community relations and engagement director.
Glenn Richie, the general manager for Lamar Advertising, and James McKinnon have previously been issued subpoenas in the matter, according to the newspaper’s senior reporter Scott Hudson.
While the mayor and The Sizemore Group were the official summit hosts, McKinnon, of Cardinale Management that operates out of New York, was on hand for the event. McKinnon’s company stood to gain millions if voters had approved the straw poll to build the arena at Regency Mall since they own the property.
Although Davis’s reputation for leaving a sparse-to-non-existent paper trail for his exorbitant spending of taxpayers’ money is well known, the newspaper was able to obtain documents that show he used more than $25,000 in public money to support the referendum campaign to have the new James Brown Arena built at the mall site.
The state ethics commission probe began in 2018, after local Republican strategist Dave Barbee filed a complaint over the billboards “The Concerned Citizens of Richmond County” bought before the referendum. The Concerned Citizens had not registered as a political action committee with the elections board and did not disclose how much money it raised or spent as the law requires.
The billboards urged voters to vote “yes” on a non-binding question on whether to build a new arena at the current downtown site or the old mall site. Voters rejected the mall site. And although Davis had said before the vote that he would wave the flag for whatever the voters decided, he didn’t exactly do that. Instead, he said, “We find ourselves in a juxtaposition of inconclusiveness.”
Some people claimed the referendum questions were confusing. They might have been, but I have a theory that the Concerned Citizens overdid the big check marks in the “Yes” box on the billboards, which confused some voters into thinking they should check every “Yes” box on the ballot, even if it was for building the arena downtown.
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As for Davis saying he didn’t know who paid for the #SOGO summit in 2017, his office paid The Sizemore Group, an Atlanta architectural firm, $24,500 to co-host the event. And for all anybody knows, he might even have paid them to come up with that catchy acronym that never quite caught on – #SOGO, for South of Gordon.
As Hudson stated in his Friday article in The Augusta Press, “Georgia elections law required that any amount of money over $500 spent in an election be reported. According to elections law, any initiative placed on a ballot is considered an overall part of the combined election. State ethics rules also require disclosure of contributions intended to influence “voters to approve or reject ‘. . .a proposed question that is to appear on the ballot in any county or municipal election,” according to the City Clerk Handbook on the Ethics Commission website.
The purchase cost of the billboards was around $2,000, which is enough to be considered reportable income.
At the time, Davis, while publicly supporting moving the arena to Regency Mall, claimed he didn’t know who paid for the billboards or the #SOGO summit. When asked who was responsible for the marketing campaign promoting the mall site, he said, “I can’t say. I have my own campaign…”
He also said he didn’t coordinate the marketing campaign or know who was behind putting the billboards up. Emails between Lamar Advertising and Davis show that he gave the final approval to the proposed billboard layouts.
The Sizemore Group was hired to draw mock-ups of the building designs and provide consulting services, according to Hudson.
“In total, checking account records and invoices show the mayor’s office paid $25,622.05 in taxpayer funds to The Sizemore Group for services that appear to be related to the campaign to place the new arena at the Regency Mall site. Some of those services are logged as vision and analysis, program development and logistics, according to the invoices, Hudson states in Friday’s article.
“Invoices from The Sizemore Group, and corresponding checks from the mayor’s office check ledger, show that Davis used city money to pay for the designs and consultation.
“Augusta Blueprint was contracted to produce the final renderings, and payments may have been made from the mayor’s My Brother’s Keeper account. Payments from that account during the same time period show they were made to Augusta Blueprint. Emails between Lamar Advertising, the mayor and Cardinale all show that Augusta Blueprint was responsible for producing the final formatted files to be used for the billboards,” Hudson states in Friday’s article.
Clothes Make the Conman
Just as I was about to start my annual list of things Santa Claus should bring city officials and other luminaries in the CSRA, here comes this story about Hardie and the ethics investigation, so I’m thinking a pair of striped pajamas might be just the thing. He might also get coals for Christmas, and if this investigation keeps on going, he might be getting some rocks to break too.
We’re going to be on the lookout for one of those two-for-one deals on matching striped (paisley might be a bit much) pajamas, so we could give Hardie one pair and former Commissioner Sammie Sias the other.
A Juxtaposition of Truth and Lies
The Augusta Press’s editors and reporters at first thought Davis’ lack of records and invoices for his spending was only negligence, but now it’s looking more and more like it was purposeful. And the trouble and expense he and other city officials have put the Augusta Press through to get some of those public records that should be readily available without having to hire a lawyer should be against the law. Well actually, purposefully withholding public records longer than necessary and inflating the costs is against the law. Proving that was the case is almost impossible without a whistleblower. And boasting about government transparency while hiring a public records employee and setting up a public records office to make sure we don’t see anything they want to hide is governmental hypocrisy of the highest order, IMO. And we deserve a refund for what we’ve paid in an effort to keep the public informed about what’s going on in the Marble Palace.
Into the Sunset
Augusta commissioners paused Tuesday before voting on a redistricting map to honor Richmond County Board of Elections Director Lynn Bailey who’s retiring at the end of the month.
“Forty-three years Lynn Bailey has been part of this government, and has done amazing things with class, dignity and fairness,” said Commissioner Sean Frantom, chairman of the Ad Hoc Redistricting Committee that voted Tuesday to accept the redistricting map drawn up by the state’s reapportionment office in Atlanta.
“I got to know you really well in the last six months in the redistricting map aspect and the committee,” Frantom continued. “And I just want to say thank you because you’ve done an amazing job, and we appreciate all that you’ve done. And this is your last meeting with us up in these chambers,” he said before calling for a round of applause for the gracious public servant.
Mayor Pro Tem called her to the podium to “say a few words.”
“Well, I think it’s been an incredible journey,” she said. “Forty-three years, starting as a two-year-old. It’s just been a thrill. It’s very bittersweet seeing things come to an end, so to speak. I’d like to think I’ll still be involved in elections. I think it’s further than in my blood. I think it’s in my soul at this point.
She also said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her family and five grandchildren and doing the things retired people do, “Whatever that is.”
“So, it’s been a pleasure, an absolute pleasure, and I appreciate all of y’all so much,” she continued. “It was interesting getting ready to think about leaving and all the people I’ve worked with over the years and all the commissioners I’ve worked with, going back decades and decades since 1978 when Harold Tiller was on the commission. Anyway, all I can say is thank you. And thank you for providing a good pension for your employees.”
Williams then called Planning and Development Director Rob Sherman who’s also retiring Dec. 31 to come up and say a few words.
“I can’t follow Lynn Bailey,” Sherman said. “I just can’t do that. Actually, I’ve enjoyed working with Lynn, and it’s been a few years, and it’s been great.
Sherman said his job was challenging, but “that’s just how it works.”
“It’s exciting. It’s interesting. I loved it,” he said. “I think y’all are doing a great job. I think the staff in Planning and Development are doing a great job. So that’s it.”
More Than One Way to Skin a White Republican
Getting back to the redistricting map decision, commissioners voted six-to-four to approve the map that was drawn by the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office in Atlanta without local input.
Frantom and commissioners Catherine Smith-McKnight, Brandon Garrett and John Clarke voted against using that map.
The 2020 census shows Richmond County population grew by 3% to 206,607 residents. That means the ideal, balanced district size is 25,825. However, District 3, represented by Smith-McKnight, grew by more than 21% and now has 31,316 residents. So, the redistricting committee and commission voted for the map that splits the district and assigns part to District 1 and part to District 2.
