How many millions Atlanta favoritism will cost us, answered
I asked the question earlier this month; yesterday, we got the answer:
A federal jury on Monday awarded $17.5 million in damages to an Atlanta businessman who claimed the City of Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport illegally steered a lucrative indoor advertising contract to a competitor with deep political connections.
The verdict, which came after nearly eight hours of deliberations, called for Billy Corey and his company, Corey Airport Services, to receive $8.5 million in compensatory damages, to be paid in thirds by the city, Clear Channel Outdoor Inc. and businesswoman Barbara Fouch.
The jury also awarded Corey $9 million in punitive damages. Clear Channel was ordered to pay $8.5 million and Fouch $500,000.
The verdict was an embarrassment for Hartsfield-Jackson and City Hall that recalled the political maneuvering and outright corruption that came to symbolize the operation of the airport during the 1980s and 1990s.
The city said it will appeal Monday’s verdict.
So, city taxpayers are out almost $3 million in damages, plus whatever legal fees the city has accumulated — and will continue to pile up in an appeal. For what? So that Barbara Fouch can enter a fourth decade of making millions from a sweetheart contract?
No thanks. End the shenanigans, and re-bid the contract.
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194 comments Add your comment
Williebkind
July 27th, 2010
2:52 pm
Atlanta is a progressive liberal hub. Transplants come to make money and leave the mess behind. I really do not care what happens to Atlanta. You could tur$s floating down the street for all I care. I just do not want my tax dollars bailing out the corrupt officials there. This is not the first time Atlanta has lost big law suits for its business as usual. Take your business elsewhere! Get out of its city limits.
HDB
July 27th, 2010
2:56 pm
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
2:51 pm
HDB
And still, nothing gets done after 30 + years
Can’t argue that one…..
@@
July 27th, 2010
2:57 pm
Good lawd, Kyle!!! Atlanta’s taxpayers are only out $3,000,000 and rising???
Clayton County’s taxpayers had our shorts ripped off by a short sheriff.
On his next-to-last day as sheriff he filed for bankruptcy, claiming he couldn’t pay $1.7 million in damages from several lawsuits generated during his tumultuous four years as sheriff.
Of that $1.7 million, he owed $475,000 to Mark Tuggle, the brother of Hill’s predecessor as sheriff, Stanley Tuggle. Mark Tuggle won a lawsuit against Hill in U.S. District Court after a jury found Hill guilty of false arrest.
The 27 deputies Hill fired later sued for wrongful termination, got their jobs back and won a $7 million settlement that Clayton County paid.
Then our former sheriff had the audacity to seek a senate seat this last election? The scary thing is he didn’t do all that bad percentage wise. Came in second to the winner, Seay.
Oh, by the by…I didn’t know Valencia Seay had encouraged Hill to get into politics until I read an article in the AJC. Needless to say, I didn’t vote for her either. With friends like Valencia, who needs enemies.
Down here it’s all democrats all the time.
Georgia Dawg
July 27th, 2010
2:59 pm
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO HELP FROM YOUR FEDERAL LOBBYISTS. The out standing John ” I walked with Dr. King ” Lewis brought Billions in Federal dollars to Atlanta for the sewer right?
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:13 pm
Georgia Dawg July 27th, 2010
2:59 pm
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, NO HELP FROM YOUR FEDERAL LOBBYISTS. The out standing John ” I walked with Dr. King ” Lewis brought Billions in Federal dollars to Atlanta for the sewer right?
“City officials complained that they’ve faced, for most of Franklin’s tenure, a hostile Republican administration not willing to help a Democratic-voting Southern city. They say the Bush administration was focused on wars abroad after Sept. 11, rather than on the needs of local governments.
In addition, they say, Georgia’s congressional delegation has lacked either the inclination or the clout to help the city with its sewer program. ” John Lewis couldn’t do it by himself…even if the appropriation was created in the House (where Lewis resides), it had to get passed in the SENATE…wherre Chambliss and Isakson would do whatever to marginalize the city of Atlanta!! Note the article said either the INCLINATION or CLOUT!! That should let all know where the Georgia delegation ranks in the government……
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
3:13 pm
“Can’t argue that one…..”
Color me stunned.
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:15 pm
@@
July 27th, 2010
2:57 pm
Good lawd, Kyle!!! Atlanta’s taxpayers are only out $3,000,000 and rising???
Clayton County’s taxpayers had our shorts ripped off by a short sheriff.
It’s not Atlanta……the only part of Clayton that involves the city is the airport!!
Georgia Dawg
July 27th, 2010
3:19 pm
Hey HDB. I bet you did not know that John Lewis walked with Dr. King did you? He has spent most of his life ” walking ” with Dr. King, maybe that’s why the City never got any matching Federal Funds but it did keep getting him re-elected by the room temp IQ’s in his district
Georgia Dawg
July 27th, 2010
3:22 pm
Just so everyone here understands, Bush’s family sold defected sewer pipe to Atlanta and that’s why the city has problems
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:23 pm
HDB:
It was just a comparison for entertainment purposes.
What….you didn’t enjoy it?
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:26 pm
Georgia Dawg July 27th, 2010
3:19 pm
I knew he walked with Dr. King (I was there for a few of them!)….but it also takes the SENATE, The House can appropriate funding….but if the SENATE doesn’t pass a similar bill and the compromises worked out in committee…no matter what’s done in the House, nothing would come down to the city!!
Question: What about those knuckleheads that kept electing Paul Broun, Nathan (ethically-challenged) Deal to their respective districts?? Same thing……no one challenged them!! A Democrat couldn’t get past first base there….and no Republican is willing to campaign in the inner city!! Wise man said: no guts…no glory!!!
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:28 pm
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:23 pm
HDB:
It was just a comparison for entertainment purposes.
What….you didn’t enjoy it?
It was funny…but just don’t point that to Atlanta…there’s enough issues there that we don’t need to take on any more lunacies!!
Jack
July 27th, 2010
3:28 pm
Let’s not forget the ex-mayor’s ex-husband had a sweetheart deal at the airport. And he died owing the city and state millions of dollars in taxes. May he RIP.
Georgia Dawg
July 27th, 2010
3:28 pm
Not to worry Atlanta, as soon as Roy Barnes gets elected, he will solve all Atlanta’s sewer problems by flushing himself down the drain with a big brush
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:30 pm
Georgia Dawg July 27th, 2010
3:22 pm
“Just so everyone here understands, Bush’s family sold defected sewer pipe to Atlanta and that’s why the city has problems”
Maybe Bush had a defective crack pipe…and that’s why we’re in Iraq and Afghanistan………(a comparison for entertainment purposes)…..
HDB
July 27th, 2010
3:31 pm
Jack July 27th, 2010
3:28 pm
“Let’s not forget the ex-mayor’s ex-husband had a sweetheart deal at the airport. And he died owing the city and state millions of dollars in taxes. May he RIP.”
Dead men tell no tales!!!
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
3:34 pm
“and that’s why we’re in Iraq and Afghanistan…”
So when’s Obama bringing the troops home?
Georgia Dawg
July 27th, 2010
3:34 pm
City of Atlanta, Fulton County, Dekalb County, Clayton County well you know the drill.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
3:34 pm
“Dead men tell no tales!!!”
No, they just somehow vote democrat.
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:46 pm
HDB:
You do realize that some of our lunacies were, at one time, some of your lunacies, do you not?
When the Olympics came to Atlanta and the city needed to beautify itself, our county opened up it’s housing market to moderate to low income housing. Down here we’ve had only one Republican, elected to serve as chairman of our BoC. He didn’t last long. He was rendered ineffectual because the other members were Democrats. That’s what I meant when I said all Democrats all the time.
Our county is a fiasco because of Democratic leadership although I do like Eldrin Bell…he came down from Atlanta.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
3:50 pm
@@
Remember, George Bush was responsible for everything in Atlanta. From the Civil War to the Braves only winning one WS title. It’s all Bush’s fault.
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:50 pm
Oops! Don’t know if HDB is from Atlanta, so that should have read:
…some of our lunacies were, at one time, some of Atlanta’s lunacies…
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:52 pm
Grand:
Well, there’s left-wing navel gazing, and then there’s bush gazing. Both done with heads down.
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:53 pm
DANG! I ain’t doin’ too well today.
…there’s left-wing navel gazing, and then there’s left-wing bush gazing…
IHB
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
@@
It’s safe to say that a lot of Obama voters have buyers remorse. No matter how hard they bash Bush, they can’t seem to convince anyone that Obama is any better.
lyndon larouche
July 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
Gfork,
Only you and your momma know why she wouldn’t let you suckle her teet….
HDB
July 27th, 2010
4:22 pm
@@
July 27th, 2010
3:50 pm
Oops! Don’t know if HDB is from Atlanta, so that should have read:
…some of our lunacies were, at one time, some of Atlanta’s lunacies…
Hey…born and bred native of Atlanta….so I understand EXACTLY what you mean!!!
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:12 pm
@@
It’s safe to say that a lot of Obama voters have buyers remorse….
Some may…I don’t!! My jobless period was significantly REDUCED under Obama than it was under Bush…..
Like Teddy said: Some see things as they are and ask “Why?”; I see things as they should be and ask “Why NOT?”
Jay
July 27th, 2010
4:25 pm
what ha happened? this d-bag is pissed cause he lost a contract. big friggin deal. people lose contraacts all the time.
he is just bitter that’s all. ask the CEO of BP life ain’t fair.
What exactly did the city do that was wrong?
Are there any criminal charges? no.
the d-bag is just upset things did not go his way.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:27 pm
“Only you and your momma know why she wouldn’t let you suckle her teet….”
tick…tick….tick….
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:27 pm
“Like Teddy said:”
Teddy the murderer?
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:28 pm
“Some may…I don’t!!’
Again, I said SOME PEOPLE. I wasn’t talking to you or about you.
It’s not always about you, HDB. Get over yourself.
Jay
July 27th, 2010
4:29 pm
is anyone complaining or suing cheney for his no bid contracts to Haliburton? no.
@@
July 27th, 2010
4:31 pm
Like Teddy said: Some see things as they are and ask “Why?”; I see things as they should be and ask “Why NOT?”
I thought it was Bobby Kennedy who said that…him and George Bernard Shaw.
Why NOT?
The fallbility of mankind…womankind…OR humankind. Pick one or all.
@@
July 27th, 2010
4:33 pm
i
neo-Carlinist
July 27th, 2010
4:36 pm
Jay, “…charging a man with murder here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500…” Capt. Willard, Apocalypse Now. How long you been in Atlanta? Remember the Ray Lewis Super Bowl stabbings? “unsolved” crimes are committed all the time. And just because Corey won his case in civil court, doesn’t mean Bill Campbell didn’t lose his in Federal criminal court (tax evasion, just like Al Capone).
neo-Carlinist
July 27th, 2010
4:37 pm
again, just because Cheney is (presently) above the law, doesn’t mean crimes were not commited
HDB
July 27th, 2010
4:46 pm
@@ July 27th, 2010
4:31 pm
Like Teddy said: Some see things as they are and ask “Why?”; I see things as they should be and ask “Why NOT?”
I thought it was Bobby Kennedy who said that…him and George Bernard Shaw.
Shaw…yes…and Teddy when he eulogized Bobby in New York in 1968!
HDB
July 27th, 2010
4:48 pm
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
4:27 pm
“Like Teddy said:”
Teddy the murderer?
Don’t think he was ever charged, tried, or convicted in a court of law for that charge to have been adjudicated…..
The court of public opinion is not always right!!
@@
July 27th, 2010
4:55 pm
Poor Bobby. Never gets/got firsties or so I’ve heard.
@@
July 27th, 2010
4:56 pm
The Kennedy’s “die nasty”.
No fan of the Kennedy clan, HDB.
HDB
July 27th, 2010
5:03 pm
@@
July 27th, 2010
4:56 pm
The Kennedy’s “die nasty”.
No fan of the Kennedy clan, HDB.
Understand…..some remember that the Kennedys were bootleggers…and the Bushs sold oil to the Nazis…and the Henry Fords supported the Nazis in WW2…..a lot of negatives come out about politicians; the question is this: Which side gets the greater pass??
HDB
July 27th, 2010
5:07 pm
Off-topic … but fot those who were decrying health care reform:
from the Washington TIMES (and I’m no fan of Sun Myung Moon!):
Md. could save $829M under health care reform
By Brian Witte ASSOCIATED PRESS
10:52 a.m., Monday, July 26, 2010
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland could save about $829 million on health care costs between fiscal year 2011 and 2020 because of federal health care reform, according to a model the state released Monday.
The savings, however, last only until the end of the decade, when the federal law shifts a greater share of financial responsibility for Medicaid expansion to the states.
The projections are in an interim report by Maryland’s Health Care Reform Coordinating Council, which Gov. Martin O’Malley created in March to study how the federal health care reform law will affect the state.
While the report emphasizes that current and future projections are fluid, it cautions that the state must stay committed to reducing overall health care costs. That’s because Maryland is projected to spend $46 million more in fiscal year 2020 as a result of health care reform than it would without it.
IF the savings can be found by Maryland…..what’s the possibilities nationwide!! It’s a START!!!
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:11 pm
“Don’t think he was ever charged, tried, or convicted in a court of law for that charge to have been adjudicated…..”
Neither was Hitler, but it doesn’t mean that Hitler didn’t kill Jews.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:12 pm
“and the Bushs sold oil to the Nazis”
HDB= Michael Moore.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:13 pm
HDB
You don’t work in the medical field, do you. Didn’t think so.
HDB
July 27th, 2010
5:25 pm
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:12 pm
“and the Bushs sold oil to the Nazis”
HDB= Michael Moore.
Here’s my source on that one…and it’s NOT Michael Moore!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar
How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:32 pm
“How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power”
Is there anything you left wing retards don’t blame on Bush? Geez, next you’ll be telling me that Bush’s great grand dad killed Jesus.
HDB
July 27th, 2010
5:43 pm
Grand Forks July 27th, 2010
5:32 pm
If he’s related to Pontious Pilate……..
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:44 pm
“If he’s related to Pontious Pilate……..”
HDB, do me a favor and STFU. I’m sick of your constant rants on racism and calling everyone in the book racist, nazis etc.
Grand Forks
July 27th, 2010
5:45 pm
Well, here’s more proof that democrats want a dictatorship after all. November can’t come soon enough.
Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College
The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/07/mass_legislatur.html