Tuesday, September 15, 2009
News Feisty Franklin finally snaps at Norwood — UPDATED
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 5:38 PM
What took her so long?
Since January, Councilwoman Mary Norwood has campaigned for mayor in large part by dissing Shirley. Not directly, mind you. I have yet to hear her attack Franklin by name or enumerate her failings. But Norwood has pursued a passive-aggressive smear against City Hall and, by implication, the mayor. Shirley has mostly sat by silently, but this week she snapped.
It began the morning after the murder of Standard bartender John Henderson, when Norwood appeared at the photo-op vigil to lay the blame for the robbery/shooting at the mayor's feet for having furloughed police officers.
"What we have seen is cuts [in police hours] made without consultation and collaboration,” she declared. But that wasn't exactly true; Franklin had previously argued that the city didn't have enough money to keep all employees at full force without a tax increase. Norwood opposed the increase, but never suggested an alternative .
Throughout the mayor's race, Norwood has criticized the city's bookkeeping. Fair enough; city finances famously ran aground in early '08 because of lousy accounting practices that had persisted for decades. But, again, Norwood hasn't proposed any solutions; instead, she simply dismisses the city's budget as impenetrable, inscrutable, unknowable. As I've said before, boasting that you can't make heads or tails of the city's finances wouldn't seem to be the smartest campaign strategy.
And at Sunday's mayoral forum, when Norwood was asked — twice — what she's done during her seven years in office to repair the city's finances, the councilwoman effectively used the excuse that she hadn't been able to make reforms because the mayor had been keeping her down.
"Atlanta has a strong mayor/weak council form of government," Norwood explained. "There are [pieces of information] I've asked for for years that I haven't been able to put my hands on."
But it was Norwood reference to the city's "Enron-type accounting" that apparently proved the last straw for Franklin, who dashed off a news-release response:
The accounting issues at Enron involved fraud and criminal activity. If Ms. Norwood has knowledge of fraud or criminal activity in connection with the City's finances, her obligation as a public official is to report them immediately to the US Attorney, and I call on her now to do just that... To publicly assert criminal activity in the absence of proof violates basic principles of fairness and decency.'
Now, it could be argued that Franklin is overreacting, that Norwood likely used a poorly chosen comparison and didn't mean to imply actual fraud, only sloppy bookkeeping. I'm guessing that's the case.
But the truth is that many, if not all, of the bad accounting practices have been eliminated over the past year and a half. The city brought in a new chief financial officer recruited from the corporate sector who, according to other Council members, has done a solid job of getting the budget in hand.
The problem in past years was that the city couldn't determine with any accuracy how much money it had. It didn't know how much money was left over at year's end, nor did it know how much it would have to spend in the upcoming year. During the Campbell years, the administration simply made up the budget as it went along, shifting money from one department to another and leaving it to the auditors to pick up the pieces.
But those days appear to be largely over. Don't get me wrong — like every other government around now, the city's flat broke. It may even be in worse financial shape than some because it has no cash reserves to fall back on, but the cutbacks and layoffs you've been reading about are primarily the result of the same crummy economy that's battering everyone.
Last month, Franklin held a press conference to announce Atlanta's monthly budget numbers. This represented a big leap forward for a city that, not long ago, couldn't have told you its annual budget numbers.
It could be that Norwood didn't get the memo — although Franklin says otherwise:
"The City's Chief Financial Officer, Jim Glass, has demonstrated exemplary competency and integrity in all the City's financial matters, and I know that he is making significant improvements in the City's financial practices and policies. Those improvements have been reported regularly and openly to the City Council on which Ms. Norwood serves and to the public."
It remains to be seen how much traction Norwood gets from bashing the administration, but it seems Franklin is determined not to let her get away with it.
Update: This morning, city CFO Jim Glass also sent out a release saying he had called Norwood to protest her Enron comment:
During the call I explained to Ms. Norwood that “Enron accounting” meant fraud and I stated that during my 10 months I have seen no evidence of such criminal activity. To use the terminology she used Sunday night during the mayoral debate was a direct affront to not only my integrity but that of all of the employees in the Department of Finance.
Then this part was quite interesting:
During my phone call with Ms. Norwood, she apologized profusely and said she recognized the efforts our department was making to correct antiquated financial practices. She also stated that she had made a public comment correcting her allegation against the Finance Department, but I have not seen any such public statement of support for the important work we are doing every day._________
I am extremely disappointed that she has demonstrated a lack of courage to publicly make such an apology to the members of the Department of Finance and attempt to amend some of the damage she has done.
Ouch.
Comments (21)
Showing 1-21 of 21
Norwood is definitely getting traction from bashing the current administration. Her strong poll numbers tell you that. Obviously Franklin is taking the opportunity to bash the Republican in the race as any good Democrat would do.
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There are no solutions to the financial crisis that are going to be palatable to influential groups or to voters as a whole. Mary hopes to avoid proposing anything by saying the numbers can't be trusted and she'll let us know when she's had her guys look at the books. Atlantans are pretty dumb, so that trick might work for another 7 weeks. Interesting that Kasim in his interview with the Fulton Taxpayers bangs away at pensions as the biggest threat facing Atlanta's budget. He's right that it's huge. I did not actually hear him say we have to cut the benefits, but of course we do.
Glad to see the Mayor cutting through Norwood's Republican doubletalk. I was never a Shirley fan, but the truth is the truth.
I watched the debate, but did not realize the statement was such a big deal until reading this article. Franklin's reaction as well as Glass' was warranted. Norwood owes the City and its employees a REAL apology.
actually, describing the city's accounting as "enron"-like sounds pretty accurate.
Good on Franklin and Glass for getting at Norwood. I heard those remarks on Sunday and thought that was a little bit of a stretch. Enron? Really? I mean, Norwood is an idiot, but she's only putting that shoe further in her mouth with comments like that. How disgraceful as a city councilwoman. She's been on council for eight years and now she's starting to speak up? Girl please.
Although I do have to say this -- the whole "wind taken out of our sails" portion of Glass' release as it relates to Norwood's comments was a mess. Dude, grow a pair!
As far as Mary's "strong poll numbers", it's early and more reputable polls (see Cornell Belcher's figures) show a much tighter race. Further, none of the candidates have really radio or television -- two forces that should boost both Lisa and Kasim's numbers. I'm undecided, but for the Mary supporters I have to ask, have her responses to the challenges we face as a city been even remotely satisfying to you? Does she inspire in anyone the confidence that she understands the challenges we face as a city? It seems that some of us in Atlanta are content with bashing the City and calling it a day. Unfortunately, we actually need solutions and a vision for our City, both of which Mary lack. As a result, she panders, and from time to time, has to take a foot out of her mouth. Can ANYONE who has seen the candidates in person (I have on quite a few occasions) walk away and think that Mary Norwood would actually be a solid mayor? If she couldn't garner the respect of her colleagues to ever become a committee chair or get budgeting information from Finance Department after CFO Glass took the helm, why on earth would anyone think she would be a good mayor? This race continues to disappoint, but perhaps most disappointing to me has been sentiments expressed in Black Atlanta that mirror that of the "Black Mayor memo" and the clear racial undertones girding the blind support I've seen from some White Atlantans in support of Mary Norwood. She's visionless, folks. Utterly visionless. They're both two sides of the same coin to me and both leave me wondering when we'll ever move forward in this City.
The idea that Norwood is a Republican is laughable. She is probably the most liberal candidate in this race.
Mary's homespun hybrid of populist pragmatism and Buckhead elitism works well for a lot of people, especially with Atlanta's interpretation of civic responsibility, but an agile and decisive policy mind she ain't. She's got a lot of supremely bad ideas and seems poised to surround herself with incompetent people if elected. It's a scary thought, indeed. But yeah, invoking Enron is like invoking the Confederacy and the Northern Arc (hurumph-Oxendine-cough). You'll do nothing but make yourself look compellingly audacious, and she doesn't seem to have the provocateur savvy to pull it off. Next.
P. Allen, you've got to be kidding? Her voting records show she voted in the Republican primaries every year except for last year - when she was running for mayor in a Democratic city. You have no clue what you are talking about P.
Norwood a liberal candidate? Puh-leeze! Do you see that photo? She hadn't changed out that suit or that hairstyle since Dynasty!
Whether Franklin snaps at Norwood isn't the point. Does Norwood have any evidence of Enron accounting or fraud or criminal activity in the Finance Department? Or is Norwood just making a point that she is reckless with the language she uses and accusations she makes? Just what we need in the next mayor. I think not.
"Morehouse Guy" writes; "I’m undecided, but for the Mary supporters I have to ask, have her (Norwood's) responses to the challenges we face as a city been even remotely satisfying to you? Does she inspire in anyone the confidence that she understands the challenges we face as a city?" Morehouse, your post articulates everything I've felt and thought while trying to parse the Mayoral candidates. I too am undecided but I have decided one thing: Mary Norwood is an idiot. I'm not confident we'll get a great Mayor out of this election but, please, people: Let's not elect an idiot.
There's more than one idiot in the race. Lisa prattles on as if Atlanta were a business: she will just give orders to underlings to sell more widgets and things will turn around. Like Shirley hadn't thought of that. (Note that Lisa was never a manager - she was Cousins' government relations VP, aka their fixer.) Kasim seems not to be an idiot. One dreads to think who his friends are and what he'd be working for as mayor, but he seems pretty savvy.
Rico, Let's not elect an idiot? Why not? That's all we've had for the past three decades.
Enron accounting is damned right. True Jim Glass was brought in right at the end to set things straight, but Franklin and the other Jackson machine mayors have been playing a shell game with the city finances for decades and Mary is dead-on when she says city is broke because of it and it has compromised the public's safety. Just before Glass got there, Franklin buried the machine's misdeeds by decommissioning the old bookkeeping system and transitioning to a new one. Those old accounting tricks are now down the memory hole. So Franklin is offended now? Please. I think she protests too much.
Kasim in tonight's forum in VaHi made clear that pension credit will have to be rolled back to get finances on track, and Lisa and Mary essentially nodded. They were both irresponsible nitwits to allow the increases in the first place, and they ignored the damage they did for several years. Kasim looked like the intelligent choice tonight - smart, tough, effective. So that rules him out, this being Atlanta.
I'm not a Mary Norwood supporter by any means, but to say that this city's finances aren't truly fucked is not being truthful. Shirley was the mayor when the crises erupted - the buck is supposed to stop with her. Everything else is just excuses.
Were the City's finances jacked? Yes. Did previous administration's play shell games taking money from one department to other to fund City operations? Yes. Was there evidence of accounting fraud such that it would be punishable by federal law as was the case with Enron? No. If Ms. Norwood thinks that fraud to this degree occurred, then she should be talking to the U.S. Attorney. Because it is obvious that some of the commentators here cannot distinguish between shoddy accounting and fraudulent accounting practices, I've attached a small primer on the Enron scandal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron#Accounting_scandal_of_2001). Again, if Mary think there is this much fraud in City Hall, the former CFOs and their employees should be brought to justice. Otherwise, tamp down the rhetoric and provide an alternative vision for how the City should be a better fiscal steward of taxpayer dollars. As I've said, I am undecided in this race, but the "I don't know card" plus the political hyperbole with little insight to voters as to how she'd address the City's finances doesn't do Mary any favors in my book. These may be rhetorical flourishes to her, but they bespeak of the kind of cluelessness that should concern the discerning voter.
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