It’s not entirely clear what Cornerstone Government Affairs will be doing for the Columbus Redevelopment Authority, but it won’t be acting as its lobbyist.
CRA President Marthalie Porter told The Dispatch Friday afternoon that Washington, D.C.-based Cornerstone, which CRA retained in December for $120,000 per year to lobby at the federal level on the organization’s behalf, has backed out.
“(Cornerstone) is not going to work for us in the scope that we had hoped,” Porter said. “… At this time we are not going to be engaging them as a lobbyist.”
Cornerstone sent a letter to the CRA last week indicating it would not lobby for CRA because there is too much conflict between the CRA and the city, Porter said. The authority and Cornerstone are renegotiating the scope and price for their contract.
“They expressed appreciation for what we’re doing, but they declined the opportunity at this time, suggesting that a more robust community cohesion would be necessary to maximize federal support potential,” Porter said. “… They think all the parties involved in this are not on the same page, between the CRA and City Hall.”
CRA voted last month to hire Cornerstone to seek federal funding for its Burns Bottom redevelopment project. The board previously sought an attorney general’s opinion on whether it could have its own lobbyist separate from the city of Columbus.
AG Lynn Fitch punted, stating she couldn’t give an opinion because state law does not dictate whether a board of a municipality can hire its own lobbyist.
It was the second time the board had voted to hire Cornerstone. Earlier in 2023 it voted to proceed, but then decided to wait for an AG’s opinion after objections from Mayor Keith Gaskin.
Gaskin pushed to consolidate lobbying efforts for all city agencies and appointed commissions earlier this year after the legislature funded the Burns Bottom project but passed over the city’s request for more money to finish the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater.
“Cornerstone just feels like there may be some conflict between us and the mayor, and that’s a situation they don’t want to be in,” CRA board member Chris Chain said. “… We don’t want to do anything that’s conflicting with the mayor and city council. … We’ll back off a little bit and go in a different direction if it’s going to cause any conflicts or potential conflicts.”
The CRA was established in 2014 to target redevelopment in the city’s urban renewal zone, which includes Burns Bottom. The council in 2017 approved issuing $3.2 million in bonds for the CRA to use to acquire more than 70 lots, as well as performing site preparation and marketing in an approximately five-block area east of the Roger Short Soccer Complex between Third and Fourth Street North and Second and Seventh Avenue North.
Last year the CRA got $3 million in state appropriations in 2023 for infrastructure work on the Burns Bottom project, and it hopes to receive $2.2 million in a federal Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill for the project, which the Senate has not yet approved.
The CRA will continue looking for other approaches to get the money it needs to finish its projects, Chain said.
“We’ve got some other options that we’re going over with lobbying (at the federal level),” he said.
When contacted by The Dispatch on Friday, Gaskin would not discuss the matter.
“I have zero comment on this,” Gaskin said. “I’m not going to comment on it any more.”
Cornerstone did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
The CRA also will continue to seek funding at the state level, Porter said. Beth Clay lobbies on the CRA’s behalf in Jackson for $36,000 per year.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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