recruited a friend, Rankin M. Smith Sr., to fund the creation of the Atlanta Falcons football team. Sanders campaigned as a racial segregationist and did not actively support the civil rights movement for blacks when in office, but was forced to address racial issues on several occasions. He was regarded by observers as a racial moderate, and described his own position as "a segregationist but not a damned fool." He regarded both white reactionaries and black civil rights activists as politically extreme. Concerned that racial violence would interfere with his plans to expand Georgia's economy, he said, "while I am governor we are going to obey the laws, we are not going to resist federal court orders with violence, and we are not going to close any schools." He appointed some blacks to state boards and the first blacks to the State Patrol and Georgia National Guard. Overall, his administration was staffed predominantly by whites and he appointed no black agency heads or judges. When confrontations between different groups over racial issues appeared, he tended to try and negotiate compromises, though he sent state police to Savannah in July 1963 to head off violence and placed police on standby in Atlanta in mid-1966 when Mayor Allen confronted angry black demonstrators. He criticized rioters and testified to Congress against the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing it violated property rights. Legislative affairs By the time Sanders became governor, it was common for this official to wield wide influence over the General Assembly, including being able to essentially name the Speaker of the House and legislative committee chairmen. He was one of the last governors to be able to exercise this amount of authority over the legislature. In 1963 Leroy Johnson became the first black state senator in Georgia in decades. When guards at the State Capitol informed Sanders that Johnson and his black pages were ignoring signs designating "white" and "colored" restrooms and water fountains, the governor had the signage removed. Later, Johnson attempted to dine at the Commerce Club, an Atlanta venue frequented by legislators and other members of the state's political and economic elite. The white maître d' refused Johnson service, so he contacted Sanders. Sanders called club founder Robert W. Woodruff, who subsequently instructed the maître d' to serve Johnson. Sanders was a fiscal conservative. Most of his budgeting focus was directed at public education.