Monday, June 4, 2007
News Where’s Shirley? Almost anyplace but Atlanta
Posted by John F. Sugg on Mon, Jun 4, 2007 at 8:26 PM
It was nice to read that Mayor Shirley Franklin is continuing her dogged efforts to be seen almost anywhere other than crisis-beset Atlanta. Most recently – just last weekend – she was having a merry time in the Big Apple. That followed jaunts to the Far East and Vancouver, British Columbia, in recent weeks.
I'm sure it is mere coincidence that the mayor's latest vacation — er, I mean, working trip — coincided with investigations heating up over her ex-husband's business dealings as a concessionaire at the airport. Just like those other trips had absolutely nothing to do with unraveling police scandals, federal investigations and the like.
This jet-setting must cost the taxpayers a little change. But as has become standard operating procedure in the Franklin regime, her factotums have refused to provide CL reports on what the mayor is spending. We made such a request on May 10, and to date there has been no response from the mayor’s office. Georgia’s rather lame open records law requires that officials provide some sort of response within three days of receiving a request.
Previously, we had requested all of the mayor’s communications with police Chief Richard Pennington – only to be told that the mayor’s office is not the custodian of the mayor’s correspondence. Who is? The mayor’s spokeswoman, Beverly Isom, told us she’s not required to make such disclosures. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney could learn something from the Franklin folks.
The mayor, although she didn’t bother to comply with the law, nonetheless expressed amazement at a recent press conference that reporters had had the temerity to ask for her letters, e-mails and the like with Pennington. Franklin contended she never put her communication with the chief in writing. Sure.
But back to Franklin’s New York junket. She appeared on a panel discussion, and the mayor was apparently upset at the changing demographics in the city where she sometimes stops to pick up her dry cleaning before heading off on another fun taxpayer-paid-for out-of-town adventure.
The mayor told the panel: "It's not spoken about much, but there are concerns that we will lose, as African-Americans, our political base.â€
You’ll recall that Franklin was one of the Gang of Three – along with Andy Young and Congressman John Lewis – who produced a famously racist radio ad last fall that told African-American residents "your very life may depend on†voting for a black candidate for the Fulton County Commission chairmanship. Such race-baiting desperation only ignited anger in the city. And it provided fodder to some, such as many Buckhead residents, who want to secede from Atlanta.
Clearly, Franklin is worried. But it’s not because she’s fretting over the lives of blacks in the city. Rather, what’s at stake is the continued dominance of the “machine.†It was created by Maynard Jackson, and bequeathed to Young, Bill Campbell and then Franklin. The power base for the machine is poor and working-class blacks – an irony since the political elite have honed to a fine art the process of catering to Atlanta’s corporate power brokers at the expense of the not-wealthy.
As many Atlantans have come to realize, their lives (in the sense of preserving their homes and neighborhoods) are indeed threatened – but by the city administration far more than by the candidacy of a moderate white Republican for the county commission.
Interestingly, Franklin conceded that very point at the Manhattan panel discussion. “African-Americans are choosing to live outside the city for the same reasons everyone is, which is bigger house, so-called better schools,†she said.
It’s not that suburban schools are, as the mayor sneers, “so-called better.†It’s pretty obvious that the intown schools suck. And for the same reason as many other facets of Atlanta’s public sector. The schools and the city administration are inefficient and bloated with employees. The public schools do a lousy job of education, while the city has failed at its No. 1 task, making the streets safe by having a motivated, well-managed police force.
I’d sure like to see Mayor Franklin visit Atlanta once in a while. Maybe she could discuss how the police department became so corrupted and mismanaged.
Maybe, instead of just slamming the door with a “no comment,†she could talk candidly about her drug-dealing ex-son-in-law and her daughter, now under investigation for possible money laundering. No, mayor, you can’t dodge that one forever.
Maybe, when it comes to questions about her ex-husband, David Franklin, the mayor could be a little more original than her usual rejoinder that they've been divorced for 20 years. We know that. It doesn't answer the questions about his role in city affairs or what's been going on at the airport concessions he controls.
Maybe Franklin could still find her legacy.
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