PAC’s John Williams CEO Spotlight:$3.95 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 page 18 AN INSIDE VIEW INTO GEORGIA’S POLITICS, BUSINESS & NEWS COLUMNS BY BENITA DODD • BAKER OWENS • CINDY MORLEY AUSTIN RHODES • DANA RICKMAN • LARRY WALKER PAT WILSON • COSBY WOODRUFF. AND MORE DEPARTMENTS Publisher’s Message 4 Floating Boats 6 FEATURES By Air, Land or Sea, JAMES Georgia’s Economy Keeps on Moving 9 P.O. BOX 724787 by Baker Owens ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31139 678 • 460 • 5410 2017 Year in Review 12 by Cosby Woodruff PUBLISHED BY INTERNET NEWS AGENCY LLC CEO Spotlight: John A. Williams 18 James’ 2017 Most Influential Event 22 CHAIRMAN MATTHEW TOWERY CEO & PUBLISHER PHIL KENT [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOR GARY REESE COLUMNS ADVERTISING DIRECTOR PATTI PEACH Augusta Again Embraces [email protected] Cutting Edge Defense Technology Role 20 MARKETING DIRECTOR MELANIE DOBBINS Austin Rhodes [email protected] CIRCULATION PATRICK HICKEY Smart Politics Translates [email protected] to More, Better Infrastructure 25 INTERN ROSSER SOUTHERLAND Cindy Morley STAFF WRITERS CINDY MORLEY Education and Georgia’s Economic Development 29 BAKER OWENS Dana Rickman COSBY WOODRUFF CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Atlanta Shouldn’t Miss the Bus on Transit 30 BENITA DODD Benita Dodd AUSTIN RHODES DANA RICKMAN LARRY WALKER Our Bragging Rights Better Than in 1956 33 Larry Walker PAT WILSON Georgia’s Apartment Industry: VISIT INSIDERADVANTAGE.COM SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY INTERNET NEWS SERVICE Looking to the Future 34 $17.50/MONTH & RECEIVE JAMES FOR FREE CHECK OUT OUR SISTER PUBLICATION: Georgia’s Success Starts SOUTHERNPOLITICALREPORT.COM with Our Talented Workforce 37 Pat Wilson DESIGN & LAYOUT BURTCH HUNTER DESIGN PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE The Main Business of Georgia is Business WELCOME TO ANOTHER INSIDE LOOK AT THE GEORGIA that James Oglethorpe discovered and that we continue Education obviously affects economic develop- to enjoy exploring and explaining— the world of Peach ment— that’s why it is an important topic in every State business, politics and culture. Staff writer Cosby James and why we publish an annual July-August edu- Woodruff provides our annual “2017 in Review” but the cation issue featuring Georgia’s top colleges and uni- overall theme of this year-end James is “Georgia’s versities. Within the next decade some 60 percent of Economy Moving Along.” the jobs in our state will require some level of college. Staff writer Baker Owens has an extensive report In this context, we present educator Dana Rickman’s exploring how Georgia is moving along by “air, land sobering analysis of threats to the state’s long-term and sea” with a focus on the important logistics piece economic development. of our economy. Staff writer Cindy Morley tackles the In case you might have missed it, James named as overall transportation issue, with interesting quotes, its 2017 “Georgian of the Year” Georgia Lottery data and insights. President and CEO Debbie Alford. When it comes to It seems the main business of Georgia these days is educational progress, we recognized that she and her business. That’s why we continue our “CEO Spotlight” team manage lottery games to maximize revenues for series profiling Preferred Apartment Communities CEO pre-kindergarten and the popular merit-based HOPE John A. Williams and how he and his team are develop- college scholarships. James/InsiderAdvantage Georgia ing what surely is destined to be one of the nation’s were proud to honor Mrs. Alford— along with three leading REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). In this “top legislators of the year”— at our annual Influential vein, and as Georgia’s population continues to grow, we Georgians awards ceremony. Check out the celebration also look at the entire apartment industry through the on pages 22-23. observations of the Atlanta Apartment Association’s Finally, visit our website insideradvantage.com to incoming chairman Tommy Brunson. subscribe to our daily online news service which For a “big picture view,” we commend to readers includes articles and opinion pieces on politics, business state Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson’s and policy issues. The subscription is $17.50 a month— column on Georgia’s talented and skilled workforce. and it includes a complimentary James subscription! While James often focuses on the metro Atlanta area in coverage, we intend throughout 2018 to report on our other major cities when it comes to measuring overall economic progress (or lack thereof in some areas). In this context, we feature in this issue a report PHIL KENT CEO & PUBLISHER on Augusta (whose city government was consolidated into Richmond County in the mid-1990s) authored by long-time talk radio journalist Austin Rhodes. FLOATING BOATS WHO’S RISING AND SINKING IN GEORGIA BUSINESS AND POLITICS The Georgia Lottery Corp. had record profits for edu- Technologies (CMaT) will work to develop therapeu- cation during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018— tic cell products, which could eventually help lead to $290.45 million, surpassing last year’s record first quar- treatments for illnesses that are currently incurable. A ter by $16.85 million. “The $19 billion generated by the lot of smart stuff from our friends in Midtown Atlanta. Georgia Lottery has provided the HOPE scholarship to And while some of it might go over our heads, GT more than 1.8 million college students and offered receiving the attention and funding to make it happen access to lottery-funded Pre-K programs for more than has its ship RISING… 1.4 million 4-year-olds. The ongoing success of the Georgia Lottery is a major component of ensuring each Athens Mayor Nancy Denson, a Democrat, was voted child in Georgia attains a quality education,” Gov. out of her local party committee after 30 years of mem- Nathan Deal says. Indeed, our state’s well-run lottery bership. This came after hosting a fundraiser for ship keeps RISING… Republican Houston Gaines, running for a state House seat in the Athens area and who was Denson’s cam- The final chapter of the story involving a Cherokee paign manager in 2014. Denson also donated $1,000 to County teacher who kicked out of her classroom stu- Gaines’ campaign. A party committee letter said her dents wearing “Make America Great Again” shirts has membership was revoked due to her support of “Donald been written. Lyn Orletsky, who told her River Ridge Trump’s party.” Such an extreme action by Athens Dems High School students that wearing the logo was akin to against one of their own has their ship SINKING… wearing a swastika, resigned after heated debate and even a protest outside the school. The saga is over, but Josh Findlay, the former chief legal counsel for the school board stalling over removing Orletsky has its Congressman Jody Hice, has been named the Georgia ship SINKING… director for the Republican National Committee. The co-founder of War Room Strategies political con- Businesses that make up the Cumberland CID along sulting firm and UGA grad will help lead and direct the with local, state, and federal partners are setting the bar national organization’s political goals here in Georgia, even higher for major infrastructure improvements. An long a bastion for Republicans that has resisted con- important project that would normally have taken a stant murmurings that it is “turning blue.” A new high- decade to complete should happen in half the time. In profile gig for campaign strategist Findlay in the RNC only three short years, these partners assembled 74 per- has his ship RISING… cent of the $45 million necessary to add a critical access ramp to the Interstate-75 managed lanes that open next Contractors E.R. Mitchell and Charles Richards have year. An application to fill the remaining $12 million gap received jail time for paying off unnamed Atlanta city is pending with the Atlanta Regional Commission. If officials in exchange for contracts, with Mitchell getting successfully awarded, these federal funds allow the five years and being ordered to pay $1.1 million in resti- Akers Mill ramp to go to construction in 2019— provid- tution. Furthermore, the former procurement chief under ing one of the state’s largest commercial markets direct Mayor Kasim Reed also admitted to taking bribes access to this RISING transportation facility. from a vendor and will go to jail. Justice is beginning to be served as this federal vendor/bribery probe contin- Atlanta Braves’ general manager John Coppolella was ues, but with so much left to uncover the Atlanta City recently forced to resign after it was found Major League Hall ship is Drifting… Baseball was investigating him for tampering with inter- national recruit prospects. The team may have comfy new Georgia’s Court of Appeals reversed a Fulton County digs in Cobb County, but with a poor on-field product and Superior Court judge’s decision that Deferred Action a now-murky future the organization’s ship is Drifting… Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal immigrants be granted in-state tuition within the state’s University A Georgia Tech-led research group in September System. The appeals court ruled that the DACA recipi- received a $20 million grant to fund a new biomedical ents who sued for in-state tuition “have failed to carry engineering research center. The NSF Engineering their burden of showing that the DACA policy had the Research Center for Cell Manufacturing force and effect of a federal law.” The court also slapped Fulton Judge Gail Tusan by saying the Board of Regents’ college tuition rules give it “broad discretion” and those rules mirror a state law that says non-citizens The Henry County schools expelled a Locust Grove cannot pay the in-state rate unless they are “legally in High School student under a “zero-tolerance” policy this state.” Clearly, as Atlanta’s Immigration Customs and regarding fights between students.