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Will Atlanta City Hall controversies impact Atlanta's bid for Amazon HQ2?

ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal doesn’t think recent problems at Atlanta City Hall will hurt the state’s effort to land Amazon’s second headquarters and the 50,000 jobs and $5-billion investment that come with it.

Experts worry that Georgia's chances at landing Amazon's HQ2 could be hurt by the federal investigation into City Hall bribery allegations along with a federal grand jury subpoena asking for former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s purchase card records coupled with the recent cyberattack that nearly crippled Atlanta’s computers.

But Deal said he believes new Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is handling the situation as well as it could be handled, and he doesn’t think this will have an effect on Amazon’s decision.

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“I don’t think necessarily so, because the new mayor has been very active in working with us at the state level and very proactive in terms of new business development,” Deal said Tuesday morning. “I think she has the right attitude and the right approach to it.”

Deal pointed out that the state is making a huge investment in creating a cybersecurity training center near Fort Gordon in Augusta. He believes that could prove attractive to a business such as Amazon that relies on the web.

“It is an issue that is not going away soon,” Deal said. “We just want to make sure we provide trained people who know what to do about it.”

Deal wouldn’t comment directly on the federal investigations except to say they will “take care of themselves.”

He remains optimistic that when Amazon pares down its list of finalist cities, Metro Atlanta will be on it.

No one knows when that list will be released, but most observers believe it could come down within the next few weeks.