Campaigns grow heated in final week before Albany municipal election

ALBANY — Campaigns are heating up with endorsement announcements, misconduct claims and counterclaims as the two Albany municipal election races move into their final week.

Mayor Dorothy Hubbard is seeking a second term against challengers Tracy Taylor and Lane Rosen, while eight-year Ward IV Albany City Commissioner Roger Marietta is being challenged by Chad Warbington.

Hubbard, who spent six years on the Albany City Commission before becoming the city’s first female mayor in 2012, said Monday that she’s had to struggle to maintain her composure at times during a number of forums conducted over the past two months.

“It’s difficult sometimes to remain civil when people are making remarks about you and about the issues that just aren’t true,” the mayor said. “It’s also difficult to campaign when you’re the incumbent. My first responsibility is to take care of the city’s business, and that has to come before campaigning. I’m committed to talking with business owners who could bring jobs to the community, to being active in our schools during Red Ribbon Week, to attending a health care summit at Phoebe, to being a part of the ConnectHome forum.

“I am mayor of this city, and first of all I’m going to do what I do. These are things that are important to our citizens now.”

Rosen in particular has challenged Hubbard’s leadership, charging a “lack of fiscal accountability” that he says has cost the community. He’s taken particular aim at utilities costs since the city took control of the former Water, Gas & Light Commission, now the Albany Utility Board, during her watch.

“Utility costs are on the top of everyone’s mind,” Rosen said Monday. “I didn’t make this issue up. It’s what’s bothering me and everyone else in our community. The city has lost trust in its government under this administration because of false and misleading statements made by the mayor regarding WG&L. She has said MEAG (the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, a collective of state utilities authorities) sets WG&L rates. She has stated the rates can’t be lowered. She has said that she can’t promise that your bill won’t go up more in the future.

“But now that we’re in the final week of the campaign, she claims she plans to address our rising power bills. I find it disingenuous that after months of saying neither she nor the city has any control over power bills, she’s suddenly decided she’ll do something. This is the official flip-flop of the campaign.”

Taylor said the rancor between Hubbard and Rosen has helped his campaign.

“The feedback I’m getting is that the people are tired of all the promises (my opponents) are making,” Taylor said Monday. “I’ve tried to stick to the things that matter most to the citizens — jobs, looking into rising utility costs and crime — and what I’m hearing is that voters like having someone whose only promise is to look into these things that matter.

“I’ve had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people in our community, and I’m talking to more of them every day. I’m optimistic about the way things are going right now.”

Hubbard, whose campaign literature includes a list of well-known and prominent local citizens who’ve promised to vote for the incumbent, picked up the endorsement of Dougherty Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas last week.

In remarks at a campaign event, Cohilas said, “It is without hesitation today that I publicly endorse my friend and colleague, Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, and ask that you vote to keep her in office as the mayor of Albany. Mayor Hubbard knows that the key to true economic success of our community is through educating our children. As a former educator who worked in this community, she understands these needs. She is currently working with myself, the leaders of Albany Tech, ASU, Darton and the School System to make sure that the needs of job providers are incorporated into the classroom.

“Mayor Hubbard has worked collaboratively with me since the moment I stepped into office. She and I share a vision for Albany-Dougherty County that requires collaboration between government, education and industry. She has worked tirelessly to not only develop this vision, but further to execute it. (She) played an integral role in securing a $200 million biomass plant. This facility will not only benefit our local citizens through job creation, but further provide immense benefit to Procter & Gamble and the Marine Corps Logistics Base. This project will serve to provide MCLB with additional power, so as to make sure that it reaches net zero with respect to its energy needs. Developments like these are what keep jobs in Albany-Dougherty County.”

Hubbard said she expects to announce more significant endorsements in the days leading up to election day on Tuesday.

Rosen and Taylor said their endorsements have come from citizens who are tired of the mayor and her administration.

“This administration has mismanaged millions through ADICA, purchased dilapidated property and spent $58.8 million of MEAG money without an explanation,” said Rosen. “As mayor, I will introduce legislation to change WG&L back to its original status with an autonomous body of confident and qualified appointments.

“Mayor Hubbard is like a used scratch-off ticket. We scratched for years and it will not pay.”

The race for the Ward IV seat, which has been contentious at best throughout, has grown even more heated in recent days.

Warbington responded Monday to campaign literature distributed by Marietta that accused Warbington of, among other things, being forced off the Utility Board for ethics issues, receiving more than $50,000 in illegal benefits from the city, voting as a Utility Board member to raise rates eight times, and taking three “vacations” while on the Utility Board at a cost of $5,000 to taxpayers.

“Roger Marietta’s claim that I was forced off the WG&L/Utility Board is false,” Warbington said, noting the letter he wrote to Hubbard informing her that he was stepping down from the board to pursue his political campaign. “I was eligible to participate in the city health insurance program as a WG&L commissioner. However, I was required to pay $467 per month during the entire time I carried the insurance. The incumbent’s insinuation that there was any wrongdoing is a cheap attempt to divert attention from his own wrongdoing.

“I have provided The Albany Herald official minutes where rate increases were discussed and voted on. As anyone can clearly see, the incumbent’s accusations are completely fabricated and false. Roger Marietta is trying to make voters forget that he has spent $53,319 of their money for luxury travel, dues to his social clubs and illegal gifts to friends. I think he should be held accountable on election day.”

Marietta said Monday he sent out the literature in response to a campaign mailer issued by Warbington that, among other things, accused Marietta of being a “career politician,” spending city money for club dues and flowers, and for allowing “the unpopular takeover of WG&L.”

“He sent that attack ad to thousands of people,” Marietta said. “I figured if he was going to stoop to that level, I needed to get out information about some of the things he did while on the Utility Board.”

Asked specifically about charges of Warbington receiving “illegal benefits” when the city’s Human Resources department had OK’d his participation in city group insurance, Marietta said, “Even if he paid the monthly premium above the $200 he received as a member of the board, the amount he paid was nowhere near the value of his participation on the city’s group plan.

“And while I used my city expense account only for items approved by the city attorney, he used city money to pay for three four-day vacations at Amelia Island when he was on the WG&L board.”

Cohilas, who said Monday he plans to formally endorse Warbington, said Marietta’s campaign tactics were “despicable, some of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

In addition to the backing of the Country Club Estates Neighborhood Club, Marietta said he has gotten the support of state Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson; workers at MillerCoors, and workers at UPS.

Early voting in the municipal election continues through Friday. Polls Tuesday will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.