two groups
established The Georgia Ethics Commission has criticized comments made by Stacey Abrams (Democratic Party), an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate who sided with a domestic terrorism suspect in 2023. shown Wednesday's fine is the largest ever imposed by the commission and is also likely the “largest ethics penalty ever imposed by a state ethics commission in the nation in connection with an election and campaign finance case.” .
Abrams and her group have been embroiled in scandal for more than a decade. atlanta magazine
reported In 2015, around the time Abrams' group siphoned off millions of dollars in donations with disastrous results, donors wanted to know where their money was going. The late state senator Vincent Fort said:[Abrams] It wasn't open and transparent. ”
influence watch
noticed In its first few years, Abrams' nonprofit New Georgia Project defined mission “Build power and increase civic engagement with historically marginalized communities, including Black, Latino, AAPI, and young Georgians,” but not only did they fail to meet that quota; accused He allegedly submitted fraudulent voter registration applications and paid a Washington, D.C.-based voter registration company more than $1.5 million instead of doing the work himself. Abrams, on the other hand, was accused of receiving a huge salary despite working just 20 hours a week for the organization.
when is that
The time has come When Ms. Abrams announced her ill-fated gubernatorial bid in 2017, her group was apparently prepared to commit even greater misdeeds on her behalf.
2019 Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission Attorney
submitted The complaint alleges that NGP made significant election expenditures in 2018 and 2019 without registration or required disclosures. In the ensuing investigation, the commission subpoenaed NGP's bank records and invoices.
“This is the largest and most significant example of an organization illegally influencing a statewide election.”
The commission alleged in 2022 that Abrams' New Georgia Project and New Georgia Project Action Fund failed to disclose $3 million worth of campaign spending and more than $4 million in political contributions between 2017 and 2019. did.
noticed At the time, the committee argued that the action fund and the nonprofit operated as a single entity but failed to register as super PACs or “independent committees” and to disclose details of campaign spending. .
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia served as CEO of the scandal-plagued organization in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The commission filed a complaint in August 2022, finding that NGP and its corresponding activity fund had violated campaign ethics laws at least eight times. It turns out that the group apparently committed more violations than originally thought.
The Georgia Ethics Commission said Wednesday that NGP's financial discrepancies were in the six- to seven-figure range, saying, “This is the most illegal violation of elections across Georgia that we have ever found.” “It represents the largest and most important example of organizations making an impact.”
Abrams Group's current leaders
admitted The consent decree, approved unanimously by the Ethics Commission and made public Wednesday, covers 16 counts of misconduct and agreed to pay a $300,000 fine for violating state law.
NGP and Action Fund lawyer David Fox told commissioners in a video: “This issue relates to events that occurred more than five years ago and respondents are keen to forget about this issue.” Ta.
reported Associated Press.
Michael Brewer, a spokesman for Warnock's Senate office, suggested that the Democrat, who was NGP's CEO during the period when the worst abuses were known, may have had no knowledge of the violations.
The commission's executive director, David Emadi, said of Warnock's potential liability: “I'm not prepared to say he was directly involved in this.”
politiko noticed A spokesperson for Mr. Abrams did not respond to a request for comment.
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