Sembler donated to campaign of DeKalb official who helped firm get tax break

A DeKalb County official who helped a developer get a tax break last year accepted campaign money from the company when he ran for school board around the same time.

Eugene Walker, the chairman of the DeKalb County Development Authority, won a seat on the county school board in December after accepting $18,000 in contributions from Sembler Co. executives and their spouses.

In the months before his election, he participated in two development authority votes that helped Sembler with its Town Brookhaven project near Oglethorpe University, according to records obtained under the Georgia Open Records Act.

On Oct. 14, Walker voted for a $500 million bond deal, according to meeting minutes. On Aug. 12, he voted for a 10-year, partial tax abatement on the retail portion of the mixed-use project.

Now, Sembler wants to replace that deal with a 20-year, 100 percent tax waiver worth $52 million, according to the company.

Walker said he’ll vote on the proposal, despite calls for him to step aside. The donors from Sembler “certainly haven’t bought my vote,” he said.

Five executives from the Florida-based company gave Walker $2,000 apiece on Sept. 27, according to a review of his campaign finance reports. On Nov. 19 they each gave another $1,000, and three of their wives gave $1,000 apiece.

An ethics watchdog organization says Walker has a conflict of interest.

“Given the degree to which he received campaign contributions from this particular developer, he should have recused himself from any decision involving them,” said Bill Bozarth, the executive director of Common Cause Georgia.

The donations did not exceed legal limits, but they did contribute to Walker’s financial advantage in the school election. He had six opponents in the general election and raised four times more than they did as a group.

Sembler gave Walker nearly a third of the $56,774 he raised, and he said he “welcomed every penny of it.”

One of his opponents, Vanessa Horton-Bowma, raised a comparatively paltry $1,205. She ranked third in the general election, with 17 percent of the vote compared with Walker’s 23 percent. She said Walker could afford more mailers and other advertising.

“The more money you have, the more things you can buy to get exposure,” she said.

Walker advanced to the December runoff and won it by a wide margin. He said he campaigned as an advocate for economic development and that growth will contribute to the county’s education budget.

Walker has one of seven votes on the development authority, which could make a decision on the tax break Thursday morning. Sembler asserts that sales tax revenue from its project would more than make up for the forgone property tax. Walker wouldn’t say how he’ll vote. “Whatever vote I take it will be data-driven,” he said.

DeKalb officials can’t recall the county ever giving such a generous tax break before. Sembler president Jeff Fuqua said he is among 100 investors in the project and that they need taxpayer money to finish it as envisioned. He said he asked his colleagues at Sembler to contribute to Walker’s election because he wanted someone on the school board who understood how development subsidies contribute to economic growth.

Walker “has a great sense of business,” Fuqua said. “He sees that these things are good for the county.”