With the county preparing to award contracts in the most expensive library construction program in state history, a Fulton commissioner wants to stamp out any appearance of backroom dealing in the bid process.
What Commissioner Emma Darnell is proposing would be among the most stringent campaign finance restrictions in the nation, banning any company that donates more than $500 to a commission candidate's war chest from doing business with the county for a year. No jurisdiction in the metro Atlanta area has anything similar on its books.
"Many contractors don't believe they have a chance, unless they are connected," said Darnell, who will ask the board to adopt the new rules at Wednesday's meeting. "That's not true in Fulton County, but that's the perception."
In addition to the limit on campaign donations, aspiring contractors also would be barred from bidding on county contracts for a year if they give gifts of any value to sitting commissioners or county employees. The rule would apply to payments or gifts given by company officers, partners or employees. Those who bid as individuals would be liable for anything given by their immediate family members.
While watchdog groups such as Common Cause Georgia welcome the idea, the scope draws criticism.
Corporate attorney Stefan Passantino, editor of the Pay to Play Law blog, said Darnell's plan goes too far.
A company could lose a contract because one of its workers gave a birthday cake to a friend who happened to be a county employee, he said. A business owner could be sabotaged by a feuding sibling.
The effect could be higher costs to taxpayers if low bidders get shut out, and Fulton could expect legal challenges, Passantino said. Last year, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down its state's pay-to-play statute as unconstitutional.
"This is a situation where the law of good intentions is going to run headlong into the law of unintended consequences," Passantino said.
Under state law, donations to campaigns for county and city offices can’t exceed $2,500 for a primary, $2,500 for a general election or $1,300 for a runoff.
Passantino said he favors requiring bidders to disclose donations. Darnell tried to alter county code in that way for anyone seeking work for $1 million or more, but the commission rejected the idea.
If Darnell's latest proposal were to pass, the rules would go into effect upon adoption.
It echoes a reform that Common Cause Georgia has been calling on Atlanta to adopt since 2009. Citing "decades-long favoritism and cronyism," mainly involving Hartsfield-Jackson airport contracts, the nonprofit group wants a $250 donation limit on anyone with a city contract.
Executive Director William Perry said Fulton County could set an example. Similar measures have passed in Los Angeles, Trenton, N.J., Hawaii, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Darnell said Fulton needs openness as it seeks bids for a $275 million library construction program, approved by voters in 2008, that will build eight new libraries, fund at least half the cost of a new Central Library and touch every existing branch through consolidations, expansions and renovations.
Commissioner Tom Lowe said Darnell's proposal would be unfair to businesses, and he disputes that contractors believe they have to pay politicians to get Fulton work.
"Coming from her, I think everybody knows she's just trying to make TV time," Lowe said.
Jay Lawton, general manager of McAfee3 Architects, one of the companies bidding for architectural work on five new libraries, said his firm hasn't donated to any Fulton commissioners' campaigns and has never felt pressured to. Gifts can lead to contract awards in some places, but he said he's never heard of that in Fulton.
Cleo Downs, owner of Production Dynamics of Atlanta, has a $16,800 lighting supplies contract with the county and he said he's also never heard of companies that donate receiving special treatment.
"I've never had that perception or even heard that was an issue or a thought," Downs said. "From my perspective, it's a non-issue."
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