Attorneys for an Atlanta billboard company that has for years sought to secure a contract worth millions at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said in opening statements Tuesday that city officials colluded with one of the world’s largest advertising firms and its female minority partner-a longtime friend of the late Mayor Maynard Jackson-in a “sweetheart” deal that has remained in place 30 years because of bid-rigging and favoritism associated with the city’s minority contracting program.
But attorneys defending the city, advertising giant Clear Channel Outdoor, subsidiary Clear Channel Airports of Georgia and Beverly Hills businesswoman Barbara Fouch, the godmother of Jackson’s daughter, told the eight-person federal jury that the case is about competition, not corruption. Corey Airport Services Inc., according to the city’s counsel, lost a bid for the contract in 2002 because owner Billy Corey’s credentials and experience in airport advertising at an airport in Columbus fell dramatically short of Clear Channel’s track record, which included contracts with 15 of the nation’s largest airports and more than a dozen other airports across the world.
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