Mayor Kasim Reed says he was “surprised” to learn of Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard’s investigation into Darrell Anderson, an airport vendor and longtime Reed associate.
Howard issued broad subpoenas to the city of Atlanta in March and April, requesting contracts, bids, invoices and other documents related to multi-million dollar airport work Anderson won in recent years.
The goal of Howard’s investigation is unclear. The district attorney also asked for information about Winston Cooper, a former airport ground transportation manager at Hartsfield-Jackson International.
A spokeswoman for the mayor deferred questions last week to Howard’s office. But Reed told a Fox 5 reporter he respects Howard’s work and believes the matter will “work out just fine.”
“The fact of the matter is we’re all big boys and girls and I’m confident that that’s going to turn out alright, but I want to make it clear it has nothing to do with me,” Reed told the station.
Anderson, a longtime family friend of Reed, runs A-National Limousine, which serves the airport. He also holds a curbside management contract and previously ran shuttles between Atlanta’s central business district and the airport.
Anderson’s company is competing for a contract to manage the overflow from the airport’s taxi hold lot.
Anderson, the mayor and others were partners in a real estate venture that purchased a warehouse in southwest Atlanta. A 2013 Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found the real estate investment company — Cascade Investors — was chronically late in paying taxes. Reed’s camp blamed the error on bills being sent to the wrong address.
A study commissioned by the airport in 2012 found potential issues with Anderson’s company holding both the curbside management contract and operating limos and shuttles, noting it gives “a perception of, if not a real, conflict of interest.”
That’s because curbside workers could steer travelers toward the company’s limos.
Vic Bolton, a spokesman for Anderson, said: “Being acquainted with the mayor is not against the law. It is only against the law for the mayor or anybody else to exert undue influence on behalf of a bidder or a contractor.”
Bolton also said the airport and city looked into potential conflicts of interest “and neither of them has seen anything untoward. At the end of the day, the money has been spent for what it’s supposed to be spent for.”
Anderson’s business dealings have been the subject of scrutiny. A Fox 5 investigation last fall raised questions about a 2011 invoice Anderson sent to the city for purchasing a four-door vehicle for $25,000. According to Fox 5, Anderson purchased a car for about half that amount.
Airport officials later explained the discrepancy by saying he actually used the city money to buy a minivan months later, though that vehicle still cost less than $25,000. After the investigation, Anderson ultimately paid the roughly $2,500 difference, according to an airport spokesperson.
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