Atlanta, GA Mayor: Atlanta's Dec. 5 runoff to succeed termed-out Mayor Kasim Reed is coming up in just a week, and several former mayors have now taken sides. Andrew Young, a prominent civil rights leader who served as mayor in the 1980s and backed the sixth-place finisher in November's nonpartisan primary, announced just before Thanksgiving that he was supporting City Councilor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat who also has Reed's endorsement.
Meanwhile, City Councilor Mary Norwood, an independent who lost a very close runoff to Reed in 2009, earned an endorsement from Sam Massell, who was ousted in 1973 but remains active in city politics as head of a local business group. But more importantly, Shirley Franklin, who served as mayor from 2002 to 2010, also threw her backing to Norwood on Monday.
Norwood trailed Bottoms 26-21 in the primary, but if she turns things around to win next month, she would not only become the city's first non-Democratic mayor in generations, she'd also be Atlanta's first white mayor since the late Maynard Jackson beat Massell 44 years ago. It's impossible to say whether (or how much) race will be a factor in next week's runoff, and racial politics in Atlanta are a subtle thing. Franklin's late support, though, could help Norwood win over black voters—and help her with another problem: partisan politics.
The state Democratic Party has openly labeled Norwood a "closet Republican," a toxic charge in this very blue city and one that Norwood's opponents have run with. But Franklin is prominent politician and a longtime Democrat whose backing might combat that image. Norwood, however, has a lot of damage to undo on that front, and the latest wound is self-inflicted.
Last week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution released audio of Norwood speaking at a June gathering of young Republicans in which she questioned her narrow 2009 loss to Reed. Norwood accused Reed and his allies of "late-night fluffing" of vote counts, charging that Reed supporters delayed releasing precinct results until hours after the polls closed so "they would know the number to beat" (an accusation reminiscent of Caro). Norwood even claimed that Reed's people were "busing people in that weren't legitimate voters" and would dote same thing again but for her "secret weapon": "I know this stuff and people don't know that I know this stuff, it's never gone public."
Well, it's gone public now, but Norwood didn't offer a shred of evidence for her claims when the AJC asked her about them. In fact, Norwood only seems sorry that she was caught: She claimed she'd been "really careful about not putting all of this out there for years, because I didn't think this would be helpful "for Atlanta's reputation, and added in a statement that had she contested the election results "it would have further divided the city." How thoughtful! There may not be enough time left for Norwood's comments to do her significant damage, but repeating Republican rhetoric about voter fraud certainly can't help.
However, despite her unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud, Norwood may nevertheless be able to make an issue of corruption in Reed's administration—an argument Franklin specifically backed her up on. Back in September, former city procurement director Adam Smith pleaded guilty to taking bribes as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Reed has not been implicated in the matter, but his critics are saying the scandal is a sign that the city needs a new direction. Franklin has argued that Reed hasn’t taken responsibility for what’s happened on his watch, and she argued that she was backing Norwood because “[c]haracter, transparency and integrity are the first issues for me.”