Posted on 08/19/2002 7:22:36 AM PDT by veronica
African-American business leaders, including home run king Hank Aaron and Carl Ware, the highest ranking African-American at The Coca-Cola Co., are among the business heavyweights backing state court judge Denise Majette's bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, campaign records show.
Since Majette launched her bid for Congress in January, Atlanta's business A-list has shown up for her, writing checks totaling nearly $30,000. Much of that support, including Hammerin' Hank's, has come in the last 30 days, after polls showed Majette had a serious shot at going to Washington.
Some business leaders, both black and white, are quietly displeased with McKinney, and one business observer went so far as to call her "a joke."
In past years, groups of executives have unsuccessfully prodded other candidates to run against McKinney, sources in DeKalb County said. McKinney represents Georgia's 4th Congressional District, which includes most of DeKalb and a small part of Gwinnett County.
Now, with Majette showing a slim lead in the Aug. 20 primary, according to an InsiderAdvantage poll, business leaders are less shy about their frustrations with McKinney, observers said.
"What's happened is that there's some concern in the white business community, and to some degree in the minority business community, whether we're getting all the benefits out of Washington that some other areas are getting," said James Young, president of Citizens Trust Bank, the largest minority-owned bank in the Southeast.
Young wrote checks to both McKinney and Majette. "Cynthia has been a supporter of the bank, and I've been a supporter of her," he said. "But competition is a good thing in most areas. We need to hear from as many voices as possible."
Majette, 47, said in an interview Aug. 13 that citizens in DeKalb County and members of the business community have thanked her for running against McKinney.
"I think the business community, including the African-American business community, is cautiously optimistic [about my chances]," Majette said. "I've been pleased the way they've supported me. They're looking forward to having leadership in place that helps everyone."
Among the CEOs on the Majette bandwagon are The Home Depot Inc. founders Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus, Georgia-Pacific Corp.'s Pete Correll, Cousins Properties Inc.'s Tom Cousins, Virgil Williams, Mirant Corp.'s Bill Dahlberg and Marce Fuller, Alston & Bird LLP's Ben Johnson, J.B. Fuqua and Inman Allen.
Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB), Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) and SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) have also supported Majette.
Support for McKinney
McKinney's camp says despite Majette's inroads, the DeKalb business community is behind the five-term congresswoman.
McKinney's campaign manager, Bill Banks, said the local business community is thankful for the more than $351 million in economic development that McKinney has brought home for the 4th District.
McKinney counts Herman Russell, of minority-owned developer H.J. Russell & Co., as a financial supporter, as well as Gregory Baranco, founder of the Baranco Automotive Group car dealerships.
And campaign records show McKinney has solid support from the political action committees of some top Georgia companies, including BellSouth Corp. (NYSE: BLS), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Georgia Power Co., Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) and AFLAC Inc. (NYSE: AFL).
Much of that money has been raised by Carl Silverberg, a Washington, D.C.-based fund-raiser who specializes in winning political action committee dollars for members of Congress.
McKinney's campaign has paid Silverberg $10,000 for his services since January.
Corporations tend to support incumbents, said an Atlanta attorney who represents several large Atlanta-based companies, and with McKinney, there's a fear factor as well.
"As a company, you don't want her mad at you," he said. "She can't do much legislatively, but from a public relations perspective, you don't need Cynthia McKinney inciting the national media and standing on the front steps of your company's headquarters."
Bob Wilson, a Decatur attorney and Majette supporter, said many DeKalb business leaders have been dissatisfied with McKinney's public image.
"McKinney has voted down the line for some businesses, but there's more to being a proper representative than how you vote," Wilson said.
Wilson, a former DeKalb County prosecutor, introduced Majette to the Decatur Rotary Club in November while she was testing the waters for a run against McKinney.
"The members were encouraging," Wilson said. "They liked Denise, they felt comfortable with her, and they told her they were very dissatisfied with their representation in Congress."
After announcing her candidacy, Majette's camp successfully petitioned corporations, executives and law firms for donations. By April she had raised $239,000, and a nearly equal amount by the first of July.
Majette contributions increase
But the vast majority of her money has come this summer, particularly in the dog days leading up to the Aug. 20 primary. Majette raised $488,000 during the month of July alone.
This month, she's brought in $115,900, including more than $30,000 reported as recently as Aug. 14.
Much of that money is from out-of-state interests, including the American Jewish community, records show. By the same token, much of McKinney's money is from Arab-Americans, including some Muslim activists.
McKinney has raised more than $600,000 in her re-election effort, including $37,500 in August.
"This is not just about the Fourth District," Majette said. "The world is watching this race at this point."
The money has allowed Majette to get her message out, including running television ads during prime time, but McKinney's Banks says the race won't be won with money.
"We have an effective machine to get out the vote, and that's how you win races," Banks said. "Signs don't vote. Polls don't vote. The idea is to get people out to the polls, and we do that."
Majette and independent analysts say the key to the primary will be the African-American vote in DeKalb, which is 23 percent undecided, according to an InsiderAdvantage poll conducted in the last week of July.
DeKalb is home to the second-largest concentration of affluent African-Americans in the country.
Among blacks in the district, McKinney is polling at around 57 percent, Majette is at around 20 percent and the rest are undecided, said Matt Towery, founder and chairman of InsiderAdvantage.
"That's weak blood pressure, and its devastating for McKinney," Towery said.
In past races, McKinney has pulled in 80 percent and 90 percent of the African-American vote, Towery said.
McKinney's support among white voters, even left-leaning Democrats, is negligible in this race, he said.
"Both sides are hammering on each other, and generally when that happens, the undecided vote doesn't come out, which means Majette wins," Towery said. "But the McKinney folks know how to get people out, and it all depends what happens at the polls."
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
- my email's been off-and-on dead or unreliable for the last 5 days-- server problems-- and I can't reliably relay this info to the usual letters to editors and opinion-makers.
... anyone else interested in online activism, go here:
Ignorance Making You Ill? Cure It!
for links, tools, & instructions about how to contact a pile of different people, and how to send a link to this story right here ( or anywhere else ) to a "mass email" using Outlook Express.
What I do is open a "new mail" window in OE, and then troll this board for links with a title & pithy summary where possible, until I get 6-12 or more, then mail it in. The search engine is useful in harvesting links for that as well.
And plenty of info on McKinney, her thuggish father, and Majette are here:
| The McKinney Files.... |
One final thing-- nothing is more powerful than a person-to-person appeal... one on one testimony. Talk to as many other people as you can about matters which are important to you.
The second most powerful appeal is a request structured somewhat like this:
"I need for you to ____"
( vote, campaign, learn more, etc. )
I am still nursing a sick wife, and I can't vote against McKinney, but rest assured I will do one thing tommorrow- and that is vote. No other poll counts, IMHO. Just the vote.
I guess I won't be buying Coke or using UPS anytime soon...
Now we can kill that damned duck!
You had to figure some kind of last minute BS would surface. I'm sure there'll be some other intimidation taking place tomorrow as well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.