The thrill of victory . . . and the agony of defeat -- Kudos to Reed who 'put his personal political reputation on the line' with transportation bill.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed

In his unique "no-one else can say it better than Jim Galloway style," the AJC's consummate political columnist recounts Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's considerable investment of political capital in the recently passed transportation bill:

After four years of effort, our Republican-controlled Legislature last week passed a transportation funding bill. As if it were a billion-dollar kidney stone.

Sweat-stained relief, rather than elation, is the dominant emotion at the state Capitol.

The margin of victory on Wednesday, 43-8 in the Senate and 141-29 in the House, belies the pain and drama of the delivery.

Republicans and business leaders give Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed much of the credit for passage of HB 277. The former state lawmaker crossed the street from City Hall and broke through a wall of opposition thrown up by his fellow Democrats.

It was by far the riskiest move of his early mayoral career.

“I think he put his personal political reputation on the line with Democrats who thought the bill was not enough,” said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Chamber of Commerce.

[T]he MARTA component of HB 277 . . . threatened to torpedo the bill — there is nothing like transportation to bring out the crippling hostilities of race and region in the South.

[Many Democratic lawmakers] wondered why Reed would allow the GOP to paper over its neglect of transportation funding so close to November.

“[Reed] recognized that this was more important than the politics of the year,” [House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island)] said. “I give him all the credit in the world.”

“No one deserves an outsized share of the credit,” Reed said in a Friday telephone interview. The mayor said he was most concerned with metro Atlanta’s business reputation — and the gains that have been made in Dallas/Fort Worth and Charlotte.

“Four years of failure are hard to explain in that kind of competitive environment,” Reed said.
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