Political motives hide under charitable label

Atlanta voters elected Ivory Lee Young Jr., Joyce Sheperd and Ceasar Mitchell to the City Council to set policy, not to beg businesses for thousands of dollars in “charitable” donations so they can finance parties and trips for constituents. They were not hired to play the role of Santa Claus.

However, under the guise of helping the needy, Young bused hundreds of his 3rd District constituents to a party at a Clayton County park where he gave away round-trip airplane tickets. Over the last few years, Young has spent $50,000 from trust-fund accounts donated by businesses, among other things, to buy toys and thousands of Thanksgiving turkeys for potential voters.

Sheperd spent more than $5,000 on holiday parties for her 12th District constituents. Mayoral candidate and at-large Councilman Mitchell spent at least $2,200 from his trust fund to treat constituents to a Georgia Aquarium trip and lunch.

Their largesse — underwritten by Atlanta-area businesses, some of which have had business before the council — benefits the council members as well as their constituents. Such acts of generosity become re-election insurance. The hope is that next time voters go to the polls, they’re going to remember the kindly council member who feted them at a Georgia Aquarium outing or a catered party.

The “trust funds” tapped to pay for such expenditures are supposedly charities. But as one critic noted, improving a politician’s popularity is not a legitimate charitable function.

“There are a vast number of nonpolitical charitable organizations that are fully capable of accepting and administering those funds without a council member, in effect setting the stage for the next election by currying favor with members of the district.” said attorney Emmet Bondurant, former chairman of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog group.

While there’s no evidence that the three council members have rewarded donors with city contracts, they have created a real potential for such allegations. Of 16 council members, Young, Sheperd and Mitchell are the only ones to establish trust funds. The Georgia Municipal Association is unaware of any other cities with such unusual financial arrangements.

The city’s Integrity Steering Committee is already investigating the council’s use of separate taxpayer-funded expense accounts. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported that several council members had spent tens of thousands of dollars over the past two years hiring relatives for city work and handing out flowers, gifts and food to constituents. A report on that practice is expected in mid-February. That committee ought to now expand its investigation by exploring the potential conflicts inherent in privately funded “trust funds” as well.

Money from those funds is disbursed without apparent oversight. When council members want to spend trust fund monies, they merely submit requests to the city’s Finance Department, which then cuts the checks. City records don’t indicate that the spending requires any other approval.

Furthermore, none of the three council members complied with state law requiring them to disclose all fiduciary positions they hold with trusts. Sheperd co-mingled money from her trust fund with campaign funds; Mitchell hired his brother’s company to buy aquarium tickets and boxed lunches for his constituents. While Mitchell says his brother’s company didn’t profit from the job, city law still prohibits council members from participating in city contracts in which they or their immediate family members have a “financial or personal interest.”

If Mitchell, Young or Sheperd wants to do good acts in their communities on their own time and using their own money, they are certainly encouraged to do so. But they should not try to capitalize on their elected offices to cajole donations from businesses and in turn use the money to woo voters.

— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)