Developer’s Attorney Co-hosted Councilwoman’s Fundraiser as City Hall East Debated
(APN) ATLANTA — Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd (District 12), Chairwoman of the Community Development/Human Resources (CD/HR) Committee of the City Council of Atlanta received donations from Sharon Gay, the attorney representing Jamestown in its acquisition of City Hall East from the City of Atlanta, in the months leading up to the Council’s debate and decision on the transaction.
Then, the morning before CD/HR, the committee Sheperd chairs, considered relaxing the affordable housing requirements at the proposed City Hall East redevelopment, Sheperd’s campaign committee, Friends of Joyce Sheperd, announced that Gay was co-hosting a birthday fundraiser dinner at Paschal’s restaurant for Sheperd.
Sheperd did not recuse herself from voting on the City Hall East changes, nor from chairing the debate.
Sheperd had made it known during the debate that she was not happy with the legislation before her committee–particularly that it had been walked into the meeting by the Mayor’s office without being properly placed on the agenda in advance, and that it had not been vetted by various community groups–yet, she voted yes anyway.
Atlanta Progressive News attempted to reach Friends of Joyce Sheperd, however, received a voice mailbox which was full. APN left a message for the campaign committee through Sheperd’s Council office, which was not returned.
Gay, who works for McLenna Long & Aldridge, and represents Jamestown in the City Hall East deal, acknowledged in an interview with APN that she did give a donation; however, she insisted it was perfectly legal and that she did not believe Sheperd needed to recuse herself from voting nor chairing the debate on City Hall East.
Gay said that it was Friends of Joyce Sheperd who had contacted her about the dinner.
“People give money to candidates in order to influence elections,” Gay said.
Gay gave a 200 dollar donation on January 20, 2010, to Sheperd’s campaign, according to Sheperd’s campaign finance disclosure for the first half of 2010 obtained by APN. Sheperd, at that point, did not face reelection for another three years and ten months.
Having already given that donation, Gay then agreed, while the City Hall East deal was being debated before CD/HR, to co-sponsor Sheperd’s fundraiser dinner.
APN spoke with Ginny Looney, City Ethics Officer, about the City’s ethics code. Looney said that while she could not discuss the specifics of the situation involving Sheperd, that she did not believe that fundraising conflict of interest issues fell under her jurisdiction.
While the ethics code prohibits city officials from voting on or participating in a matter in which they have a personal or financial interest, examples of that would be if a city official owned stock in a company, worked or served on a board of a company, or even if their family member did either or those. Looney said she did not believe that campaign contributions counted as a personal or financial interest.
Looney said that there were state laws, on the other hand, that may govern the matter, adding that Common Cause Georgia had been advocating for the city to adopt ethics codes concerning campaign contributions.
SHEPERD’S PREVIOUS FUNDRAISING ISSUE
This is not the first issue involving Sheperd and fundraising. Previously, Sheperd was involved in a fundraising scandal involving developer and former US Rep. Pat Swindall (R-GA).
Swindall was indicted on June 24, 2009, for funneling 8,000 dollars in contributions to Sheperd’s campaign in 2005, an amount far exceeding the maximum campaign contribution for an individual. At the time, Sheperd was facing a challenge from former Councilman Derrick Boazman, who had previously held the seat.
Chris McCreary, who had worked for Swindall, went public to local Fox 5 news in 2007, alleging that Swindall gave him 8,000 dollars and instructed him make out eight money orders for a thousand dollars each, to make each one out from a different donor and payable to Sheperd.
McCreary alleged that Swindall said that he was a downtown developer and wanted to “make friends at City Hall.”
Swindall, McCreary, and a third individual were each indicted in June 2009.
“I am pleased to see this action taken by the Grand Jury. In my testimony to them yesterday, I confirmed the fact that I was not involved or aware of the alleged contribution scheme,” Sheperd said in a statement reprinted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper’s Political Insider blog.
“It is important for the people of District 12 to know that I would never accept contributions in exchange for political favors, and I plan to return the campaign contributions, which totaled $8,000, to the State of Georgia.”
It is not clear whether Sheperd has yet returned the funds. APN’s review of Sheperd’s campaign disclosures filed since she promised to return the funds does not reflect an expenditure of 8,000 dollars to the State of Georgia, or to any charity for that matter.
When APN looked briefly into the matter in the weeks leading up to the 2009 election, a Council Member close to Sheperd said that she had not returned the funds because “she doesn’t know who to return the funds to.”
“I have to give that money back because I never want it to be said I was a part of something that was illegal. My vote is not for sale,” Sheperd told Fox 5.
(END/2010)