Councilwoman Felicia Moore ratchets up pressure on Reed to provide access to financial info
The mayor says he's complied with Georgia transparency laws, calls her demands a ‘publicity stunt'
To Atlanta City Councilwoman Felicia Moore, her request is a no-brainer. The northwest Atlanta policymaker simply wants Mayor Kasim Reed to give her access to the city’s financial information so she can fulfill her elected duties. But Reed is saying not just no, but hell no. He’s accusing the councilwoman of political motives and overreach. Moore is refusing to accept that answer.
The dispute over transparency and the separation of powers is the latest brouhaha in the long-running feud between Moore, one of Council’s fiscal watchdogs, and Reed. Previous tiffs have centered on the Atlanta Falcons stadium, airport concessions, and the city’s budget. The rivalry's grown so heated that the mayor has helped funnel money to assist little-known challengers like Ricardo Mosby run against the councilwoman. Unlike past issues, however, it appears the latest argument won’t be resolved with a vote — only the full disclosure of how the city’s spending its money.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Moore urged the public to join her ongoing “quest for transparency.” The fifth-term councilwoman is demanding Reed to give her access, both in City Hall and remotely, to the city’s expenditure system. She wants to know who’s getting paid, when, and how much. And she was making such a public plea because she’s been “stonewalled” despite multiple requests. We’ve embedded the latest letter the mayor sent to Moore responding to her request:
Moore says her request started with several sources of information — human resources and other personnel records, for example — but she then narrowed the search to financial data. The councilwoman says she received some information about pay raises, but heard from the “street committee” — rumors, basically — that it was incomplete. She asked for additional information and saw a name included that wasn’t on the previous packet.
She’s not looking for anything specific, rather to peruse the information as she chooses.
“If I do find something to be irregular, I will certainly ask for more information,” she says. “It seems to me that they would want me to have my own access so they wouldn’t have to be bothered by it.”
Following Moore’s press conference, Reed balked at the councilwoman’s demands for access to the city’s entire system. The mayor says not only has the city complied with the Georgia Open Records Act, but that he’s released more documents than any other Atlanta mayor.
“We already released the records,” Reed says. “She's asking for records we already released in the ordinary course of business. What she wants is to have unilateral access to them. It's ridiculous. That would be like a member of Congress having the right to access everything the executive branch accesses in real time. I'm not going to agree to do that.”
What Moore is doing, the mayor says, is simply engaging in divisive politics that are a “publicity stunt” designed to boost her profile for future elections. The same goes for Councilwoman Mary Norwood, he says, who backed Moore at her press conference on Wednesday.
“I think Councilmembers Felicia Moore and Mary Norwood look like a great ticket,” Reed says. “Mary looks like she's running for mayor. Councilwoman Moore looks like she's running for council president. God bless 'em both. That's a circus. We have a real city to run.”
Moore she says that she’s already won re-election and denies that her push for financial data is related to political ambitions.
“The only campaign I’m running at this point is a campaign for transparency,” she says. “And I attend to take that campaign and put every bit of energy into it. And I intend to win it, one way or another.”
She’s looking forward to Wednesday during the Finance and Executive Committee, when City Hall’s finance officials brief councilmembers. If she doesn’t receive an answer then, she’ll consider other options, including picketing City Hall. At the end of list, Moore says, “is someone outside of City Hall making a decision.” That could include a lawsuit.
“But I don’t want to go there and cost the city legal fees,” she says. “And I don’t want to fight with my city government. I hope it doesn’t come to that. but I’m willing to accept options.”