Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: We Beat the Twins!
Architect of Atlanta Braves’ Move to Cobb Defeated in Re-election Bid
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COBB COUNTY, GA — With 104 of 144 precincts reporting, Mike Boyce defeated the man who orchestrated the deal to bring the Atlanta Braves to Cobb County, commission chairman Tim Lee.
Shortly before 10 pm, Boyce led Lee with 63 percent of the vote, compared to Lee’s 37 percent, according to the Georgia Secretary of State.
Lee is widely seen as the architect of the new Atlanta Braves stadium in Smyrna, a deal that critics charge was negotiated in secret and without public input.
Boyce finished ahead of Lee in the May 25 primary with 49 percent of the vote.
[ Ed. note: In comments made after the results were known, Lee disputed the “negotiated in secret and without public input” part of the Braves’ stadium deal, lamenting that the public did not seem to have the full story. A comment that AJC writer Mark Bradley picked up conceded this: “I think voters are expressing a dissatisfaction with what they believe to be true”
At least one facebook comment I saw suggested that Lee had ‘lined his pockets’ with Braves’ money in the deal. There’s absolutely no evidence of that, though.
What is certain is that Lee put his public position on the line by working hard to get the Braves a new home, because he believed it would be a deal that worked for Cobb.
That result remains to be adjudicated in the future, but yesterday Cobb voters made him pay a price for his efforts.
Here’s a hope that (a) Lee is ultimately vindicated; and (b) that this election doesn’t scare public officials away from ‘doing the math’ for projects that should benefit the people they represent. ]
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