The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
November 2, 2006
Maria Saporta
Four years ago, gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue couldn't even get Atlanta business leaders to return his phone calls.
The business community was ignoring his campaign, Perdue complained in October 2002 to a group of Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce board members.
What a contrast today.
At the September board meeting of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the honored guest was Gov. Sonny Perdue, who received an award for his international economic development efforts.
"He was very well received," said Eric Tanenblatt, a chamber director who served as Perdue's first chief of staff and is now with the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. "Obviously, his calls are getting answered."
In fact, in looking over 2006 campaign disclosure reports, it's clear that key members of the Atlanta business community are solidly backing Perdue instead of his opponents — Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes.
It's reminiscent of how executives supported Gov. Roy Barnes in his unsuccessful re-election campaign four years ago. When Perdue surprisingly won the election, Atlanta business leaders were shocked and distressed because they knew they would have limited pull with the new administration.
And early in the Perdue administration, the Atlanta business community got crosswise with Perdue over the possibility that the state would revert to the racially divisive 1956 state flag — a major issue in his first campaign.
The flag issue was resolved to the satisfaction of business and state leaders, and the relationship between the governor and the Atlanta business community has been in a state of repair ever since.
"What people have seen is that this governor is going to run this state like a business," said Mike Garrett, chairman of the Metro Atlanta chamber and president of Georgia Power, who said he's personally supporting Perdue. "I just know everybody is pleased with the way he's running the state."
Well, maybe not everybody. But given the political climate, few business leaders are willing to say anything critical of the sitting governor.
That's not surprising, said former Gov. Barnes. "The easiest thing to do is to support the incumbent," said Barnes, who benefited from incumbency four years ago. But he said he earned the support from the business community.
"There's no question that Atlanta business leaders were huge supporters of mine," he said. "I was the first metro governor to be elected in Georgia. And the issues of transportation, sprawl and water quality were very important to the business community. And I had those as true interests."
With the business community's encouragement, Barnes put together the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District while also instituting education reforms.
Plus, he changed the state flag, a move the business community considered essential in attracting major events and companies to Georgia.
While the flag issue went away, the other problems facing metro Atlanta continue to mount. "One of the things that shocks me in this governor's race is that there is no discussion of transportation or water quality issues," Barnes said. "I think transportation and the time sitting in a car is one of the missed issues for both candidates in this race. And I don't see that that's been addressed in the past four years."
Whether there's a direct cause and effect is difficult to determine, but Perdue's political base four years ago came from rural Georgia rather than metro Atlanta.
Tanenblatt, who was a GOP fund-raiser during the first Perdue campaign, remembered how tough it was to raise any money from major companies, partly because Perdue "in large part, was an unknown ..."
While Perdue couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, campaign spokesman Derrick Dickey said the business community and the governor share the same top priority — education — and they appreciate him running the state "like a good chief executive."
But given what happened four years ago, it's a bit surprising the business community isn't hedging its bets by supporting both major candidates in the event of a repeat upset.
Part of the problem is that "the business community is feeling its way in a two-party state," Barnes said.
Keith Mason, a partner with McKenna Long & Aldridge who is backing Taylor and is a fundraiser for the Democratic Party, said the tables have turned.
"Historically, the Atlanta business community has always hunted with whomever has got the gun," Mason said. "Despite the fact that Gov. Perdue has not taken on any of the major issues affecting the metro region, the business community is once again lining up with the candidate that is currently in power. Businesspeople, in general, are risk-averse."
Mason, who thinks Perdue will likely win, said he also has been disappointed that the gubernatorial candidates have not "effectively addressed quality-of-life issues that affect people in the metro area."
No matter who wins on Tuesday, business leaders know metro Atlanta will need all the help it can get in the next four years.