In an effort to increase support for a new special purpose local option sales tax being voted on on July 20, NewTown Macon has hired state Rep. David Lucas as a consultant.
The move has raised some eyebrows around town for a couple of reasons. For one, some people have questioned whether publicly elected officials such as Lucas, D-Macon, should be getting paid for consulting work on an issue that involves his constituents.
In addition, Macon City Councilman Erick Erickson has raised the issue as to whether a 501(c)3 organization such as NewTown is allowed to campaign on a public referendum.
Mike Ford, president and CEO of NewTown, and Lucas both defended their positions Friday.
Ford said that although NewTown’s board of directors is in favor of the SPLOST, the organization hasn’t officially taken a position. Ford said NewTown plans to spend “in the range of $30,000” to present information about what the SPLOST will do for the community.
“This is to educate the public,” Ford said. “We want to put out facts and put out literature about it. ... We lean toward being favorable to the SPLOST. The board favors it as a group, but there hasn’t been a vote yet.”
Ford noted that several years ago Erickson drafted a legal memo about the legality of NewTown taking a political position, but Erickson said Friday that laws have changed since then.
Ford said IRS rules prohibit a 501(c)3 from endorsing a candidate, not a referendum.
Lucas said Friday there’s no conflict of interest for him to be paid as a consultant for an issue that he already supports, especially since he is only a part-time legislator. As a state representative, he has no sway over an issue such as the SPLOST that’s specific to Macon and Bibb County.
“I’ve always made my living on the road outside of Macon, Georgia,” Lucas said. “(SPLOST opponents) have got wrong information out there to the voters. We’ve got to change their minds.”
Erickson, however, said the appearance of Lucas accepting money from NewTown to consult on the issue is troubling to him.
“I think it’s pitiful that an organization that is dedicated to the building of downtown Macon is doing this,” he said. “I don’t think the SPLOST is related to their mission. ... I think (Lucas has) a conflict of interest. But that’s the way the game is played in Macon — you can buy a local official.”
In response, Lucas noted that Erickson is a paid conservative pundit for CNN.
“I’ll put my record of public service against Erick Erickson or anyone else in this town,” Lucas said.
Lucas said his wife, Councilwoman Elaine Lucas, who has her own political consulting firm and who is a vocal supporter of the SPLOST, isn’t being paid by NewTown or the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce.
Erickson, in his weekly opinion column in The Telegraph on Friday, criticized the tax-exempt, nonprofit agencies of NewTown and the Peyton Anderson Foundation for their support of the SPLOST.
However, Juanita Jordan, president of the Peyton Anderson Foundation, wrote in an e-mail Friday that her agency isn’t providing funding for the issue.
“The Peyton Anderson Foundation specifically and in writing declined a request for making a grant to provide either public relations or education regarding the upcoming SPLOST,” she wrote.
David Lucas took several people to task for their opposition to the SPLOST, including Macon Mayor Robert Reichert, Macon attorney Calder Pinkston, Telegraph publisher George McCanless and Telegraph editorial board members and local radio/TV talk show hosts Kenny Burgamy and Charles Richardson.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation, and there has not been an open debate,” Lucas said. “I don’t mind debating anyone — the mayor, Kenny B., Charles, Calder Pinkston.”
Lucas criticized The Telegraph for serving as a voice in the anti-SPLOST movement.
“They’ve got The Telegraph doing their campaigning,” he said. “They’re running editorials. Kenny B. and Charles are on the radio every day against it.”
McCanless said the newspaper’s editorial board met with several public officials on both sides of the issue and debated it thoroughly before deciding that the board would come out against the SPLOST. He also noted that supporters of the SPLOST, such as Bibb County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, have written pro-SPLOST opinion pieces in the newspaper and that Elaine Lucas was a guest this week on the “Mix in the Morning” program.
“Our editorial board met and discussed this thoroughly,” McCanless said. “We had one-on-one meetings with (Bibb County Commission Chairman Sam Hart), (Commissioner) Lonzy Edwards, the mayor. We formed our own opinion, and our position has been stated. While we don’t disagree with all of the things in the SPLOST, we do disagree with the timing of it and some of the things in it. We’re not a mouthpiece for anybody. That’s our opinion. ... If David wants to pen an (opinion column), he can do so.”
Pinkston, a former chairman of the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority who has formed an anti-SPLOST group in town, said he was “shocked and stunned” that Lucas is working as a consultant for NewTown.
“I don’t want this to get personal,” he said. “I just want to discuss this on its merits.”
To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.
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