What did Sam Olens do, and when did he do it?
Some of us here at The Augusta Press were in a state of disbelief when we learned that the city of Augusta paid former Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens’ Atlanta law firm $21,066 for consulting services regarding disputes with the newspaper over the Georgia Open Records Act.
City records show that Mayor Hardie Davis requested Olens’ services and incurred the debt, but taxpayers paid the bills. And we can’t find records anywhere that the Augusta Commission officially approved paying the consulting fees to Dentons US LLP regarding the lawsuit, The Augusta Press et al. v. The City of Augusta.
Finance records show the Olens was paid $14,696 for consultation in the suit filed in April 2021. However, Olens was not listed as co-counsel in any court documents and never attended any of the three hearings that were held in the case, according to Augusta Press Senior Reporter Scott Hudson.
The Augusta Press’s Attorney David Hudson who did all of the work on that suit was paid about $10,000.
So, what did Sam Olens do, and when did he do it?
He brought his name and former position to the table. But what table?
The city also paid Olens $5,265 for consulting in another matter involving the open records law. The Augusta Press has repeatedly requested emails sent from Davis’ private email account that pertain to city business.
Olens attended a meeting in June with the city’s General Counsel Wayne Brown; David Hudson, attorney for The Augusta Press; Joe Edge, publisher of The Augusta Press; and Petula Burks, the mayor’s chief of staff, to discuss the law pertaining to the emails and other documents that had been requested. Davis did not attend the meeting.
So, what else did Sam Olens do, and when did he do it?
He told Davis not to come to the meeting.
There’s No Such Thing as One Augusta
It looks like Augusta commissioners are going to have to double the salary of the city’s new lobbyist. If they can’t get along with the state politicians representing Augusta in the Gold Dome, how do think they’ll fare with the rest of the legislature in Atlanta?
In a joint meeting between local legislators and commissioners, Sen. Max Burns and Rep. Mark Newton, both Republicans, said they won’t support the state-drawn, locally approved redistricting map, and for their trouble got hot objections and a cold shoulder.
They got shut down too. See if you can figure out why.
The ad hoc redistricting committee, Augusta Commission and Richmond County School Board each voted late last year to approve a map drawn by the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office in Atlanta. That map splits District 3 and puts parts of the Summerville neighborhood into Districts 1 and 2 to lower the population in District 3.
“Regrettably, you’ve asked the Legislature to support that map,” Burns said. “I can’t support that map. There are alternatives….”
In November, upon hearing things weren’t going all that well on the ad hoc committee, Burns, local Delegation Chairman Wayne Howard, D-Augusta; and Sen Harold Jones, D-Augusta, had the reapportionment office draw an alternative map, but the ad hoc committee refused to even consider that map.
“We had five alternatives to work from,” Burns said. “The worst was the one the state sent that was approved without a single change.”
He and Newton both asked commissioners to work with the legislative delegation to come up with another map.
“I do believe that we can do better,” Burns said.
With that, Commissioner Bobby Williams said he had a couple of simple questions for Burns and Newton.
“So, Senator Burns, you said, ‘Things we can do better.’ Can you list two or three things we can do better?” Williams asked. “What exactly are you talking about?”
“Well, I can certainly identify the desire – and I really feel the necessity to listen to community input and to recognize that the lines that you have proposed were initial drafts,” Burns replied.
“So, we had one precinct that was split into three commission districts. If you look at the map that was proposed initially, it has precincts that are split. It has neighborhoods that are not maintained, Burns continued. “It tends to not allow certain areas of the Augusta-Richmond community to have a voice.
“The fact we started with something that was a starting point, and we made no adjustments, and we did not allow input or act on the input. We accepted the input. We just took no action on it. We took no action on the commission, on the school board or the ad hoc committee.
“I do feel that we can improve, and we must improve. If we’re only going to take that initial starting point, I’m not in a position to support that.”
So What?
Williams said Districts 4, 5, and 6 in south Augusta have been split up for years.
“You’ve got districts on the other side of town (west Augusta) that have not been split up, and this map splits some of them up, and they don’t want to do what has been done to other people,” he said.
“At the end, we talk about the majority. The majority of the people on that ad hoc committee voted to send this up. The school board thought this was the best way to do it, whether you thought it was a starting point, and ending point, what have you. They looked at several different options and did not find anything any better than what they voted on.
“So, my point is, and we’re tired of being split in the 5th, the 4th and what have you., and other people not taking on the responsibility like other folks have.”
Commissioner Alvin Mason said he was the chairman of the redistricting committee 10 years ago and there were a number of subdivisions that were split, particularly in his District 4.
“We sucked it up because it was part of the process that allowed us to move forward,” he said. “Fast forward to today. For anyone to make the assertion that there wasn’t consideration given to the process and the maps we have before us couldn’t be further from the truth,” Mason said.
“Summerville and Forrest Hills Became the Crux”
“I spent hours on end at my house trying to find a way to try to get around what ended up being the biggest issues with this map, and that was splitting Summerville and Forrest Hills,” Mason continued. “They did not want that, and they were very vocal, saying they would talk to their senators and representatives and that we had not heard the last of them. We got threats.
“There were three locally drawn maps. Map number 3 had District 4 losing seven of its current subdivisions. I would be losing most of my voting constituency. Map number 3 had not divided a single precinct in District 3 and District 7. They are predominantly white districts. That is a fact. I could not in good conscience vote for such a map.
“When you say we could do better, better is what? Better is what came from the state with no biases. So that is the elephant in the room. If we’re going to discuss this honestly, and I would like an honest discussion,” he said. “Now it’s time for others to bear the same as we have. What has to work for us has to work for everyone.”
Commissioner Ben Hasan said he agreed with Mason.
“They went by the rules of engagement,” he said. “And we ended up voting for that map. We agreed to accept that map and dialogue. It was the right thing to do. It was the best map.”
Newton said he appreciated Mason’s and Hasan’s vigorous defense of their districts.
“I would like to have the same opportunity to defend my district,” he added.
Then, Davis announced, “The commission won’t take a position on this,” which, had he announced in the beginning, would have saved everybody half an hour’s time.
At the end of the meeting, he said, “One Augusta.”
It was almost pitiful.
“Now It’s Ya’ll’s Turn”
Later in the week, Commissioner Catherine McKnight said, “As far as the local level goes, the local level is done. It’s going to go before the state.
“Bobby Williams and Alvin Mason basically said, ‘Now it ya’ll’s turn.’ But what they don’t understand is Summerville is already split up. Bobby was concerned about Districts 4, 5, and 6 being split up. So is Summerville. McDowell Street and Kings Way have three different commissioners. So does Central Avenue. Summerville doesn’t need to be split up any more.
Before a map can go before the full state House and Senate for approval, it first must be approved by all three Augusta delegation senators and three of its five representatives.
Good Fit
Speaking of lobbyists, Administrator Odie Donald told commissioners that lobbyists Marci Rubensohn and Robert Highsmith, partners at Holland & Knight, the Atlanta firm the city hired to lobby the Georgia Legislature would be “on-boarding” with the city last Friday.
Donald said Holland & Knight lobby for Savannah and that Highsmith was no stranger to government, having worked for former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
You might remember that in June, Reed appeared to be under federal investigation for allegedly using campaign money to make personal purchases of jewelry, resort travel and furniture. But in October, Reed’s personal attorney was quoted as saying that Reed had been cleared of wrongdoing in the Atlanta City Hall corruption investigation.
Polluting the Friendly Skies
Davis is so concerned about climate change, he flies halfway around the world to the oil-rich country of Qatar, polluting the atmosphere with fossil fuel emissions to talk about global warming, air pollution and green energy. Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, and the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses per capita, according to Geology.com.
A Sign Elections Are Coming
Augusta mayoral candidate Marion Williams is in a range war with Marshal Ramone Lamkin over city marshals removing his campaign signs.
Williams said he saw a man in an unmarked brown pickup truck taking up one of his signs, so he got him to pull over, and the man was a city marshal who told him if he had a problem to call Marshal Ramone Lamkin.
Williams called Lamkin and asked why the truck didn’t have a city logo on it, and Lamkin reportedly said the driver was an undercover marshal.
“I said, ‘There’s no such thing as an undercover marshal,’” Williams said.
Then, according to Williams, the following conversation ensued:
Williams: “‘You can’t move my signs.”
Lamkin: “Yes, I can.”
Williams: “In a 2000 commission meeting, we voted to have the Marshal’s Office call the candidates before removing their signs.”
Lamkin: “Do you want me to send you the rules?”
Williams: “I know the rules. I called Lynn Bailey in the Elections office, and she said it was protocol to notify the candidates before removing their signs in the right of way.”
Williams said other candidates have money to pay for radio and TV ads, but he doesn’t, and his signs are the only way he has of getting his name out there.
“I got as good a chance to win as anybody,” he said. “When people know I’m in the race, they’ll vote for me. I feel like there’s a fear in somebody that I might win. They take up my signs and leave other signs on the road. Houses for sale signs, all kind of signs still on the road.”
Williams said he was at Elections Board Executive Director Lynn Bailey’s retirement party talking to L.C. Myles and handing him one of his cards when James Kendrick, the father of Tax Commissioner Steven Kendrick, who is also running for mayor, came up and reportedly said, “You don’t know when to retire?”
Williams said he replied. “You’re older than I am, and you’re not retired.”
One Word Can Be a Picture
So, Ernie and I were talking about something, going back and forth, repeating ourselves, talking but not really listening like old married couples do until it dawned on me we were basically saying the same thing.
“We’re in agreeance! We’re in agreeance!” I said.
I was thinking of the late Augusta Commissioner Willie Mays. He often said “agreeance.”
I miss wonderful characters like Willie! He was one of a kind. He was an Augusta city councilman before he was a Richmond County commissioner; then Augusta commissioner and interim Augusta mayor. He was also the owner of the historic W. H. Mays Mortuary on James Brown Boulevard.
He could be speaking tenderly about something in such a soft voice you could hardly hear him; then increase the volume and slip a totally unexpected zinger into his lengthy oration so fast it went right over the head of the person it was aimed at.
Sometimes, he’d drone on and on so long everybody had gone to sleep; then he’d jolt them awake with a line from a Meatloaf song like, “There ain’t no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.”
