Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves has come under fire for taking trips overseas funded by companies doing business with the county.
The trips weren’t personal vacations, but educational travels with groups of high school students to China, Brazil, Turkey, Germany and South Africa. Eaves created the Fulton County Global Youth Leadership Program in 2008 to expose politically-minded youths to the governments and cultures of foreign nations.
While the county’s Human Services Department runs the program, the international trips are funded by private donations. But records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that tens of thousands of dollars have come from county contractors or companies that have sought contracts.
This year, documents show, a $3,500 donation came from Heery International, which has a joint contract for $3.3 million to manage the first phase of a countywide library construction project.
A $2,500 donation came from Corizon, which just had a $15.1 million contract renewed to provide health care services at the county jail. In 2011, Barking Hound Village, which has a $2.1 million per year contract to provide countywide animal control services, gave $2,500.
Eaves said he violated no ethical rules because none of the companies were actively bidding for county work when they donated.
The county’s ethics code forbids officials from taking gifts or favors from any “prohibited source,” which includes companies that do business, have done business or might do business with the county. Eaves maintains that the program received the money, not him.
The chairman said he’ll seek different donors now, in light of a new policy approved by the commission last week forbidding employees and elected officials from traveling at contractors’ expense.
“There’s nothing that was improper, in my opinion, in receiving support from these entities,” he said.
William Perry, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Georgia, said when contractors donate to an elected official’s preferred cause, there’s an appearance of currying favor.
“I think it’s a problem,” Perry said. “When you’re in public office, you hold the public trust and you have to be beyond reproach, and this is not beyond reproach.”
At last week’s commission meeting, Vice Chair Emma Darnell — a frequent political foe of Eaves — cited the 2011 Brazil trip to get the new policy approved 4-0, with Eaves not voting.
“If you’re doing business with Fulton County don’t pay for (a commissioner’s) trips,” she said.
Documents show that the majority of the donations have come from such corporate giants as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Georgia Power and Waffle House. But this year, at least $34,700 — about 30 percent of the corporate funds raised — have come from 14 current or potential contractors.
Eaves hired consultant Evan Goldberg to find sponsors. Goldberg said he sought out major companies known for donating to youth causes. He said he approached others, such as Corizon and Barking Hound, at Eaves’ suggestion.
“I just know that he knows people at certain companies,” Goldberg said. “And I know people at certain companies.”
The overseas trips typically cost about $30,000, with about 25 students traveling. Twenty-two teens went on the Brazil trip, volunteering with Project Favela, a charity for Brazil’s shantytowns, and visiting such sites as the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and the Museum Carlos Costa Pinto in Bahia, Salvador.
Eaves said there has been no quid pro quo for contractors who contribute.
“That’s absolutely not true at all,” he said. “The issue that we need to keep in front of us is this is a youth program that allows much-deserving high school students to have global leadership experiences.”
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