City of Alpharetta pays lobbyists to lobby its own city council (Commerce: tax, live in)

[arjay57]

This seems odd to me but maybe it's just politics in the 21st Century.

A north Fulton city is paying tens of thousands of public dollars to an organization that is lobbying the city council to support a developer's zoning request.

Some residents and watchdogs say the relationship crosses an ethical line and raises conflict-of-interest questions, with tax dollars used to push a site change that would contradict the city's master plan.

The city of Alpharetta has paid $25,000 this year -- with another $25,000 due in July -- to Progress Partners, an arm of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. It was created about 18 months ago to promote economic development.


City-backed group lobbies city for developer *| ajc.com

[bryantm3]

smells fishy to me. i live in downtown alpharetta and i haven't heard any real opposition to the plan— i thought the guy presenting it was a jerk and i basically let him know so in the public meeting, but the plan itself most people are fine with.

when it comes to the city paying for itself to be lobbied... that sounds like something you'd hear about on the federal level, i had hoped our local government had some degree of sanity