Developer: Donations were not made in exchange for votes

Allegations are swirling that campaign contributions made by an area developer to Jacksonville City Council incumbents running for re-election may have been in an exchange for the council members’ votes on a policy change made in September.

At its Sept. 8 meeting, the city council voted 4 to 2 to revise the city’s sewer allocation policy to make flow allocated for fiscal year 2011 available early because the city’s new treatment site is expected to be completed in January making the allocation reserved for FY2011 unnecessary.

As part of the policy change, developers whose projects were approved prior to Aug. 18 could apply for the newly released allocation immediately. If the developer’s building permits are approved by Dec. 31 they are eligible to pay for the allocation at the current rate as opposed to the higher rate going into effect Jan. 1.

According to information provided by city staff, five projects were eligible to take advantage of the lower rate at the time the council made its decision. The loss of revenue if all five developers apply and pay for the additional allocation by Dec. 31 is $350,000 which could eventually be translated into a 1.75-percent increase across the board to residents’ water and sewer rates, acting City Manager Ron Massey, told The Daily News in September.

One of the developers with potential to benefit from the council’s policy change is Tom Taft, owner and developer of Arlington West Apartment Homes LLC.

Council members Reva Sullivan, Alva Williams, Fannie Coleman and Jerome Willingham voted in favor of the policy change, and Mayor Pro-Tem Michael Lazzara and council member Randy Thomas voted against it.

According to the 35-day financial reports on file at the Onslow County Board of Elections, Sullivan, Williams and Thomas all received campaign donations from Taft in the amount of $1,000 between Aug. 25 and Aug. 26.

Willingham did not file a 35-day financial report because he is under the filing threshold, not having spent or taken in at least $3,000, said Rose Whitehurst, director at the Board of Elections. However, Taft said he donated $1,000 to Willingham’s campaign as well.

Jacksonville resident Vincent Palancia believes there’s a direct connection between the campaign contributions and the council members’ vote.

“I find it very disconcerting that you have a $1,000 contribution being given to three city council members one month prior to a vote on that contributor’s land development project,” he said. “Are you going to vote against someone … if they just gave you a $1,000 contribution … This one smells.”

Taft said he has always had an interest in “good government” and that he contributed to all the city council candidates running for re-election because he believes in the progress the current council has made. He said the contribution had nothing to do with the council’s policy change.

“It was never any quid pro quo or understanding about anything other than doing a good job,” he said. “I have been following city government now for over two years and am very much interested in the progress that Jacksonville is making, and they’re making great progress with the … mayor and council that are currently there.”

Sullivan said the campaign contribution and her decision regarding the sewer allocation policy were “100 percent not linked.”

“I received campaign donations from many people and I reported every single one of them. Sometimes the people we get donations from we have made decisions for or against in the past, present or possibly in the future,” she said. “I think there’s way more important things to worry about than where we’re getting our contributions from. It’s irrelevant. We could question everybody’s contributions.”

The policy change decision affected more than just one developer, and Sullivan said she made her decision to help keep Jacksonville growing and the building processes moving.

“That decision did not just affect Mr. Taft,” she said. “It wasn’t in favor of just one or two builders, it was in favor of anyone that is in that position of having to wait just because of a policy that we weren’t necessarily stuck to anymore.”

Taft said he participates in politics “honorably and for the right reasons” and that it’s a shame people are trying to “splatter” him for it.

“You can color things any way you want to, but I have a long, long history of being one of the most active political contributors in the state and in the country; and it’s always related to who I think is doing a good job,” he said. “It fits my pattern, I participate.”

Thomas declined to comment, and Willingham and Williams did not return requests for comment.

Contact Molly DeWitt at 910-219-8455 or mdewitt@freedomenc.com.