GA: Supporters, Opponents of Cobb Transit Tax Spend More than $450k

Groups supporting and opposing Cobb County’s proposed transit tax on the Nov. 5 ballot have spent more than $450,000, according to campaign contribution reports.

Spending has exceeded $200,000 on both sides of the transit tax campaign, though one group campaigning for its passage has not filed a report.

The 1%, countywide transit tax referendum is at the bottom of this year’s ballot. Voters are being asked whether Cobb should raise its sales tax from 6% to 7% for 30 years.

Proceeds would be used to overhaul public transportation. The tax, known as the Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (M-SPLOST), would collect $11 billion to construct 108 miles of rapid bus routes, half a dozen new transit centers and a countywide system of on-demand "microtransit" service.

Keep Cobb Moving, a coalition of liberal groups, has spent about $255,500 campaigning for the tax, a figure which includes in-kind donations, as of the Oct. 21 fundraising deadline.

Meanwhile, Vote No Cobb MSPLOST, a group opposing the tax, had spent almost $200,000 by the deadline.

Aligned with Vote No is the anti-tax group Cobb Taxpayers Association, which has spent about $8,400 campaigning against the M-SPLOST.

Finally, the pro-M-SPLOST group Freedom From Traffic has not filed their contribution report, despite the deadline passing more than a week ago.

Committees formed to support or oppose a ballot question in Georgia must report their fundraising if they take in or spend more than $500. Fundraising reports are due 15 days before the election, then again on Dec. 31.

Efforts by the MDJ to reach Freedom From Traffic were unsuccessful.

Keep Cobb Moving

Keep Cobb Moving is made up mostly of Georgia-based and national liberal groups.

It lists Freedom From Traffic as a member of its coalition. The others are GALEO Impact Fund, CASA, Georgia Conservation Voters, Environment Georgia, Southern Environmental Law Center, NRDC Action Fund and the Asian American Advocacy Fund.

Keep Cobb Moving had raised just over $175,000 in cash by the deadline. It spent about $135,000, leaving it with a $40,000 war chest for the last two weeks of campaigning.

The group also reported receiving in-kind donations worth about $120,500.

All of Keep Cobb Moving’s donations — both financial and in-kind — have come from its members. No donations were from individuals.

Of the cash it raised, most of it ($119,250) came from the Norcross-based Asian American Advocacy Fund.

The League of Conservation Voters contributed $50,000, while the Sierra Club of Georgia gave $6,000.

The committee’s in-kind contributions came from the Asian American Advocacy Fund, Southern Environmental Law Center, Georgia Conservation Voters and GALEO, in the form of printing, staff time for voter outreach, ad production, direct mail and digital advertising.

All of the cash Keep Cobb Moving spent went to political consultants — Apollo Messaging Team — to conduct digital advertising.

Vote No Cobb MSPLOST

Vote No Cobb MSPLOST raised $229,800 and has spent most of it.

As of the Oct. 21 deadline, Vote No had spent nearly $200,000, and had just under $30,000 in its campaign account.

The vast majority of funds came from a 501(c)4 political nonprofit called Parents United Inc.

Parents United’s registration with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office lists its address as an office in Cumberland.

The address is the same as that of Decisions Consulting, led by Earl Ehrhart, a lobbyist and former Republican state representative for west Cobb.

Ehrhart was succeeded in the Legislature by his wife, state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, one of several Republican lawmakers to come out against the tax.

A website for Parents United consists of a donation link and a description of the group, saying it is “dedicated to promote the social welfare, specifically by encouraging policies and funding promoting educational excellence and achievement among the students, educators, staff, and administrators of Cobb County’s educational institutions.”

The second largest donation to Vote No, for $25,000, came from the Cobb Fund, another political nonprofit, which is led by Ben Mathis, partner at Cumberland-based law firm Freeman Mathis & Gary.

Vote No has received $500 donations from the Cobb Taxpayers Association; the campaign committee of Lindsey Tippins, a former Republican state senator from west Cobb; and former Cobb Chamber of Commerce Chairman Greg Morgan.

Other former Cobb Chamber chairs to donate are Terry DeWitt ($250), John Loud ($250), Mitch Rhoden ($200), Rob Garcia ($200) and Mathis ($200).

The group received $200 each from the campaigns of state Sen. Ed Setzler, R- Acworth, and state Rep. John Carson, R-northeast Cobb.

Rep. Ehrhart also gave $200. So did former Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who represented east Cobb.

Others who donated $200 were Superior Plumbing, Life University Vice President Gilles Lamarche, Melissa Bottoms, The Color Spot owner Mike Feldberg, 1885 Grill owner Mike Schroeder, Brasfield & Gorrie executive Trey Sanders, and John Crooks.

Vote No spent a little more than $101,000 on mailers. Another $70,000 was spent on “digital media.”

The group also paid about $26,300 to consultant Battleground Connect for text messages, and about $2,200 on ads in the MDJ.

Cobb Taxpayers Association

Cobb Taxpayers Association has raised nearly $8,600 and spent more than $8,400 opposing the M-SPLOST, leaving it with less than $200 in its campaign account.

Almost $2,900 of CTA’s donations were for less than $100, and therefore aren’t reported as itemized contributions.

The largest donations it received were for $500 each from the Cobb GOP, John McClean of Powder Springs and Jerry French of Marietta.

It also received $300 from Robert Hovey of Marietta and $200 from Sandra Piver of Powder Springs.

CTA has spent roughly $5,500 on lawn signs, $1,400 on card printing, $600 on T-shirts and $900 on ads in the MDJ.

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