News - Is Shirley Franklin tied too closely to Atlanta’s political machine?

They say that Atlanta isn’t a mafia town. They lie.

For nearly 30 years, Atlanta’s city government has been run by the so-called “Morehouse Mafia,” a loose-knit gang of name-dropping political hangers-on who believe this city is nothing more than a money-laden playground for those connected to its African-American elite. Every mayor since Maynard Jackson has been a member, and the front-runner in this year’s campaign, Shirley Franklin, is no exception.

And membership has its privileges. City contracts are handed out only to those who can demonstrate a connection to someone who is a member in good standing. Franklin, the Morehouse Mafia’s anointed candidate, almost certainly will ascend to a throne that controls hundreds of millions of dollars in city contracts, all of which are guaranteed to be awarded to her political supporters, who stand firmly behind Mayor Bill Campbell and his corrupt regime — and Andy Young’s before that, and Maynard Jackson’s before that.

Franklin’s endorsement list reads like a who’s who of Mafia members. Big developers whose careers were built on city patronage are on it. Marginally qualified city contractors are on it. The ne’er-do-well sons and daughters of political hacks are on it. It’s as if Bill Campbell himself has engineered Franklin’s coronation in the hope that the city’s corrupt way of doing business will be preserved for future generations of cronies who’ve been taught the art of the greased palm since birth.

Which is not to suggest that City Council President Robb Pitts is squeaky clean. Pitts has cast his lot with the white-dominated Buckhead Business Mob, who’s positioned yet another black man at the helm of a “joint venture” enterprise — one that is every bit as fake as the construction projects many of them sponsor down at Hartsfield International Airport.

Meanwhile, longshot candidate Gloria Bromell-Tinubu has complained that she isn’t even running against Franklin, but against Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, who still hold considerable political influence in this town. Sadly, Bromell-Tinubu has about as much chance of being elected mayor of Atlanta as I do — and I’m a suburban white boy.

And so it goes in the Gate City. The black elite rules all they survey, and they alone decide who will be mayor and who will have a voice in city government — and who won’t.

As for the everyday citizens of Atlanta, it’ll be business as usual. Without connections to Shirley Franklin and the Morehouse Mafia, they’ll have no influence and no voice.

Jeff Berry is a computer professional living in Alpharetta.??