Airport Contracts Face Council Vote

By Charles Edwards

Atlanta, GA – Atlanta airport officials want 11 different companies to sell food, beverages, retail and other items inside Hartsfield-Jackson International. The full City Council votes on those recommendations tomorrow. Campaign contributions have made those recommendations controversial.

Behind brand name franchises at the airport are companies that beat out competitors for the right to sell. The airport says the competition is based on a company's concept, business plan and other criteria. But, in the past, some contracts have been based on political ties and campaign contributions. Some wonder if that's also true now.

"I have still many, many questions about what has taken place and how this process has gone along," said City Councilor Michael Julian Bond at last month's transportation committee meeting.

Since that meeting, echoes have come from ethics advocates and watchdog groups. Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation President John Sherman has filed an open records request. Sherman wants to know who evaluated the bids, when they met and how they decided.

"Because we believe the contracts were given out to people who contributed funding and not necessarily to the bid price or the bid qualifications," said Sherman.

Some of the recommended companies gave money to Mayor Kasim Reed and some city council members. Among them, are Transportation committee chair C.T. Martin and transportation committee member H. Lamar Willis. Some of the contributions have been returned. Others haven't. Willis has argued, then and now, it's less about contributions and more about competition.

"When there are hundreds of dollars on the table, there are going to be happy people there are going to be some very unhappy people," said Willis.

Revenue from the contracts will make the city happy. Hartsfield-Jackson stands to make at least $51 million in revenue each year from renting airport space to concessionaires. And if the 10 year contract is approved, those businesses also stand to make millions. The Mayor's office has spent the last few weeks pushing the council to approve the contracts.