Posts

The list of contributions by individuals to the $6.5 million campaign fund for the transportation sales tax is interesting – in terms of who gave, and who didn’t – in a campaign built upon corporate contributions.

Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson is the only one of the 21 members of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable who contributed under his or her own name – $500, on March 16.

Individual contributors such as Johnson account for slightly more than $140,000 of the $6.5 million the campaign expects to raise. The remainder of the campaign fund was provided by about 360 business entities, according to campaign financial disclosures.

Campaign financial disclosures filed by advocates of the transportation sales tax indicate that polls of voter sentiment have been conducted once a quarter since June 2011.

Hill Research, of Auburn Ala., has been paid a total of $289,512 on dates in 2011 in June, September and December, and this year the larger payments were made in March and June. No payments were reported for July in the disclosure released Monday by Citizens for Transportation Mobility.

Though saportareport.com can’t offer the depth of insights presumably contained in Hill’s reports, it can provide a review of some basic information about voters who are the subject of a sales tax campaign with a budget in excess of $10 million – $8.5 million for the persuasion campaign, and an education campaign that reports raising more than $2 million.

The Atlanta Regional Commission will help handle some duties of project management for the $8.5 billion construction program the region would embark upon if voters on July 31 approve the proposed transportation sales tax.

The task would put the region’s metropolitan planning organization in the position of helping to develop the projects as intended by the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable, the panel of 21 elected officials that approved the $6.14 billion regional project list in October.

During discussions last autumn, roundtable members expressed concern that they would lose their ability to maintain accountability for the list after their work on the roundtable was complete.

The chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission returned fire today on state legislators who’ve criticized the list of projects to be built if voters approve the proposed transportation sales tax.

“To suggest a better list is out there … is simply unfair to the incredible work that’s been done,” said Tad Leithead, ARC’s chair. “No stone has been left unturned.”

Leithead did not identify the target of his remarks. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leaders Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) led a group of five lawmakers who called during an event at the Capitol for voters to reject the proposed 1 percent sales tax.

This story has been updated with details of campaign contributions and expenses.

By Dave Stockert’s account, he and the campaign finance team have done their job in helping to convince voters to support the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

They’ve raised about $6.5 million to pay for the advocacy campaign being waged by Citizens for Transportation Mobility, the group Stockert chairs. Now it’s up to the professional campaign staff to prevail with the resources at hand, Stockert said in a meeting with reporters Monday afternoon.

“I feel delighted that we raised it,” Stockert said. “We’ve taken that issue off the table. I think we have an effective campaign. I’m confident it will be good enough when we get to July 31. We don’t have to win 80 percent.”