The Georgia State Ethics Commission cleared the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority from culpability in a recent violation of campaign finance laws during the 2025 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax election campaign.
Under Georgia law, no authority or person acting on its behalf is allowed to make contributions to candidates, campaign committees, political action committees or political organizations.
In mid-January, MBCIA gave $50,000 to Go BIG for Macon, which the authority’s attorney Kevin Brown believed was a nonprofit organization that would inform and educate voters about the SPLOST special election on March 18.
But Go BIG registered as a ballot-question committee, listed the donation as a campaign contribution on its disclosure form, and hired Southern Majority political consultants and campaign managers to advocate for renewing the penny sales tax.
“Upon investigating and looking into this case, what we came to understand is that the industrial authority typically gives $50,000, something like that, every cycle to an educational initiative, which is permissible. They’re allowed to give for educational purposes. They’re not allowed to give for advocacy purposes on SPLOST,” State Ethics Commission Executive Director David Emadi said during the June 12 meeting in Athens.
A review of emails and invoices that showed the authority specified the intent was to educate, not advocate, Emadi said.
The Ethics Commission found the industrial authority “acted in good faith” when donating non-public money from its revolving fund that is compiled from collecting administrative fees from loans and other business ventures with private companies, individuals, firms or corporations, according to the compliance order approved following the commission’s review of the contribution.
“Though unintentional, and without any reasonable basis for (MBCIA) to have known otherwise, (MBCIA) as a public agency ultimately was reflected to have made a direct campaign contribution to a ballot question campaign committee, Go BIG,” the ethics commission’s compliance order stated.
A separate case involving GoBIG is still pending, Emadi told the commission before they approved the compliance order.
Thursday morning after this article first published, Southern Majority CEO Amy Morton emailed a statement to The Macon Newsroom on behalf of the Go BIG for Macon committee.
“Go Big for Macon-Bibb, Inc. is a volunteer-led committee that worked in good faith to educate the public on the recent SPLOST, which passed with overwhelming support. We are aware of a recent complaint filed with the Georgia State Ethics Commission. We are fully cooperating with the Georgia State Ethics Commission and are confident that the facts will demonstrate our intent to follow the law at every step and ensure transparency.”
In the commission’s compliance order, it states that the authority, “as a public agency, failed to ensure adequate documentation of use and reporting of its donated funds, effectively resulting in (MBCIA’s) having made a direct contribution to a ballot question committee,” in violation of campaign finance laws.
While no penalty was imposed, the authority agrees to have a written agreement going forward that would guarantee funds supporting voter education will be used only for that purpose or returned to the authority.
If the authority fails to comply, the commission could take legal action in the future.
“It’s a learning point,” Brown said Tuesday about the commission’s compliance order. “It’s nobody’s intention to violate the law, but that would have allowed us the ability to recoup those monies, or, say, make sure you use them, or that you don’t register as a ballot question committee, or that it cannot be used for political campaigns, etc.”
Recent meeting highlights
In recent months, the industrial authority sold building 102 at Allied Industrial Park to Terry’s Truck Parking and Storage for $200,000.
The authority is working to sell off its remaining seven Allied properties with a total of 286,276 square feet at the old naval ordnance plant EPA Superfund site.
At the authority’s property at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport, the board also approved spending more than $1.2 million from the airport fund to put a new membrane roof on the 160,000 square feet of Embraer buildings to fix multiple leaks and also refurbish the county’s old World War II Hangar B.
Under the Embraer’s latest lease, the authority committed to a new roof with a 10-year warranty, but actually secured a 15-year agreement with the contractor.
MBCIA also hired Pat Topping, former senior vice president of the Macon Economic Development Commission, or MEDC, as the authority’s new brand ambassador to enhance the its presence across the community and state.
In May, the board approved Topping Economic Development Consulting’s $76,500 annual contract after MBCIA Executive Director Stephen Adams convinced him to come out of retirement.
“He will be attending conferences on our behalf… getting that brand out there and continuing to enhance our activities here,” Adams told the board. “He comes with a wealth of knowledge and economic development that goes back several decades and has constantly been recognized as one of the best in the state.”
Topping has more than 30 years of experience in the field.
In 1993, he began as the MEDC project manager before becoming its senior vice president in 1999 and receiving the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce’s MEDC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Authority chairman Robby Fountain said that when he came on board, Topping taught him everything he needed to know about industrial development.
“He was very inspirational in everybody’s career around here,” Fountain said. “We all dealt with Pat along the way, and a lot of things have taken place over the course of time, but Pat’s back home where he needs to be, and I want to see Pat finish his career here in the county that he built, the county he loves.”
The authority also approved up to $60,000 for renovations to its office at 439 Mulberry St.
New lobby furniture, carpeting and conference improvements reflect the 2021 rebranding of the organization and its blue and green logo.
Adams said after visiting other industrial recruitment offices he felt MBCIA’s decor was outdated and advocated for the upgrade as they work to lure multi-million dollar businesses.
“When we are introducing and bringing people in from around the world, sometimes this is their first impression,” Adams said.
The authority meets next in August.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-301-2976.
