A GEORGIA STATE SENATOR who wanted to help his friend Ralph Reed win the GOP lieutenant governor primary this month may have put the embattled politician in more hot water with ethics investigators.
Georgia state Sen. Dan Balfour (R-Snellville), is also a vice president of Waffle House Inc., and in that capacity he sent a July 7 internal company memo to nearly 400 Waffle House locations in the state instructing restaurant employees to display a Ralph Reed campaign sign. The memo bars campaign displays from any other candidate in any other political race.
“Waffle House Inc. has given Ralph Reed permission to put a yard sign at every Waffle House in the state of Georgia,” Balfour wrote.
“No political yard signs are allowed at Waffle House without a letter from me. If other political signs go up, please take them down,” Balfour added.
Reed, a Republican lobbyist and former president of the Christian Coalition, has also been under scrutiny for ties to convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff that likely played a role in Reed’s loss last week to Casey Cagle in the Republican primary for Georgia’s lieutenant governor.
Now the Political Campaign Action Fund, a non-partisan, nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., is arguing the deal between the Reed campaign and Waffle House restaurants smells of dirty politics.
“I think it’s an illegal campaign contribution. It certainly undermines the laws that are on the books,” said David Donnelly, national campaign director for PCAF. Those laws, according to Donnelly, say that companies are only allowed total contributions to candidates of up to $5,000 per election.
The PCAF, which paid for political ads targeting Reed during the primary, alerted the Georgia Ethics Commission, which has not yet taken any official action.
Waffle House Communications Director Pat Warner said Balfour’s instructions were “not an endorsement.”
“It only allowed yard signs,” he said.
GAY DINERS WHO want to support gay friendly restaurants may have somewhat limited options among national breakfast chains. But their buying power should not be ignored, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“Consumers often care about more than how good food tastes or the quality of a T-shirt, but also about how their actions and policies affect GLBT employers and consumers. And when it comes to the GLBT community, buying decisions are often made based on these important factors,” said HRC communications director Jay Smith Brown.
HRC, which evaluates companies for gay-related policies through its Corporate Equality Index, has not evaluated Waffle House, or any of its national competitors.
Warner, the Waffle House spokesperson, said the company does not include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policies. Waffle House Inc., which owns about half of the 1,500 Waffle House locations nationwide, also does not provide domestic partner benefits to its employees.
IHOP CORP. OVERSEES a chain of approximately 1,200 franchise restaurants and directly operates seven International House of Pancakes locations in Cincinnati, Ohio. Patrick Lenow, IHOP spokesperson, said the company includes sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policies, but does not offer domestic partner benefits to its 800 employees.
Officials with the Denny’s restaurant chain did not respond to interview requests about workplace policies and benefits by press time. The Denny’s website includes statements about the company’s diversity efforts, but does not explicitly include sexual orientation.
