Fact Check: TRUE

Yes. 

While running Atlanta’s recreation authority, Keisha Lance Bottoms signed Con-Real’s first contract in April 2017. 

Two months later, the Texas firm won a $2.4 million contract despite bidding about twice as much as a competitor. 

Then, in August 2017, Con-Real CEO Gerald Alley hosted a fundraiser for Bottoms and donated nearly $4,000 to her campaign. 

In 2018, Con-Real won a third contract for $1.4 million and was again the highest bidder.

Then, after she announced her campaign for governor, the CEO donated the maximum amount allowed by law.

SOURCE: AJC – Contractor to rec authority projects held fundraiser for Mayor Bottoms

Fox News –  “‘Concerning’: Ex-Biden official under fire as pay-to-play allegations emerge in top gubernatorial race

Fact Check: TRUE

Yes.

A news investigation “found taxpayers have spent more than $60,000 to mail out postcards, flyers, and even a 56-page color brochure for two candidates for Mayor.”

Keisha Lance Bottoms’ brochure included 80 pictures of herself and was mailed to residents outsider her district as she was preparing to run for mayor.

Sara Henderson, director for good government group, Common Cause said: “Flipping through the pages, almost every page is a picture of Keisha with her name. Which, anybody that has ever looked at campaign knows, that’s campaign literature, “says Henderson. 

SOURCE: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/mayoral-candidates-use-tax-dollars-for-newsletters 

Fact Check: TRUE

Yes. In fact, Keisha Lance Bottoms rewarded multiple campaign workers with high-paying jobs improperly.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: “Just after she was elected, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms set about securing jobs for her top campaign staffers in a way that raised concerns about whether the process was improper…

[an] investigation found that the mayor…circumvented normal city hiring processes and broke with longstanding political practice by charging taxpayers for transition work her campaign staff performed before she took office on Jan. 2, 2018. 

Six of Bottoms’ campaign staffers were issued checks through the city’s payroll system for the last two weeks of December 2017 — before they submitted job applications and received formal offers for positions in the new administration…

…Marva Lewis, Bottoms’ campaign manager and one of the six people placed on the city payroll before Bottoms took office, was given the title of deputy general manager at the airport with a salary of $273,873 per year and never worked at the airport.”

SOURCE: Mayor Bottoms’ hiring, retroactive pay of campaign workers questioned

Fact Check: TRUE

Yes.

Keisha Lance Bottoms was paid an annual salary in excess of $60,000 on Atlanta City Council. She was also appointed to a $135,000 per year job at the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority. 

In addition to double-dipping, the dual jobs raised questions about conflicts of interest.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 

“State Sen. Vincent Fort, who has slammed Keisha Lance Bottoms’ hiring as the authority’s executive director, said that the legislature’s legal counsel has determined that holding both positions could pose ‘conflicts of interest’ due to the business relationships between the city and authority.”

Fact Check: TRUE

Yes. Not only was Keisha Lance Bottoms fined $37,000 by the State Ethics Commission, but investigations revealed a host of campaign finance violations. 

Reporting reveals

• Bottoms admitted to accepted thousands of dollars in excess of individual contribution limits.  
• Her campaign also received $110,797 in illicit contributions according to the election. 
• After the election, Bottoms kept raising money to retire campaign debt, but the amount raised exceeded the debt, and the campaign kept the balance – another violation.
• She also initially refused to comply with subpoenas for her campaign bank records after the State Ethics Commission began investigating apparent misspending.

SOURCE: 

Atlanta mayor fined $37,000 for campaign finance violations during 2017 mayor’s race

Fact Check: TRUE

Atlanta taxpayers paid for 22 city officials to travel to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl in 2019.

But as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, “included with the city’s Super Bowl delegation was newly elected Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her husband, Derek. 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News have obtained documents that show taxpayers wrongly covered the $2,610 first-class airfare to the big game for Derek Bottoms.”

After the ticket was discovered, Bottoms only refunded taxpayers about half the airfare:

“Bottoms’ reimbursed the city $1,434.42 on Feb. 15, according to records,” the newspaper reported.

It is unknown if the remaining $1,000+ was ever refunded to taxpayers.

SOURCE: Atlanta Mayor Bottoms: Taxpayers improperly paid husband’s airfare

Fact Check: FALSE

No, but Jackson Healthcare did step up for the state of Georgia during COVID and help save thousands of lives.

No other staffing company in Georgia had the ability to recruit the number of nurses and physicians that were needed during COVID. Jackson Healthcare could have focused on sending health care providers to New York and made twice as much money, but Rick Jackson told his staff that their clinical providers would go to Georgia before anywhere else. They also had a system that allowed any company nationally to bid on all the positions for the state. This process created the most cost-effective price for Georgia in the United States and saved lives in Georgia.

Additionally, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that if Rick Jackson is elected “Jackson Healthcare will not bid on any new contracts with the state of Georgia and will ‘work to responsibly unwind any existing contracts’.”

Source: Rick Jackson promises to ‘unwind’ Jackson Healthcare state contracts if elected

Fact Check: FALSE

No.

In fact, the company doesn’t even bill Medicare and worked with the U.S. Attorney’s office to crack down on a doctor who was committing fraud.

The U.S. Attorney even said publicly, “I credit [the company] with stepping up… and taking steps to prevent occurrences like these… we will continue working with health care providers, medical staffing companies, and our law enforcement partners to combat telemedicine and telemarketing fraud schemes that prey on elderly and disabled members of the community.” 

Source: Eastern District of Washington | Richland Physician, Health Care Staffing Company Agree to Pay $700,000 to Resolve False Claims Act Liability Arising from Telemedicine Scheme | United States Department of Justice