Stacey Abrams Group Handed Georgia's Largest-Ever Campaign Violations Fine

Published Jan 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM

A voting rights group founded by Stacey Abrams has been dealt the largest campaign violation fine in Georgia history.

The New Georgia Project, once a major organizing force, will pay the state $300,000 forillegally spending millions to bolster Abrams' 2018 gubernatorial campaignto settle a complaint filed with the Georgia Ethics Commission, according to a consent form made public on Wednesday.

Aria Branch, counsel to the New Georgia Project, told Newsweek Wednesday that the group was "glad to finally put this matter behind us so the New Georgia Project can fully devote its time and attention to its efforts to civically engage and register black, brown, and young voters in Georgia."

Why This Matters

The nonprofit organization helped propel Abrams, a fixture in Georgia's Democratic politics, to the national spotlight in 2018. Although she would ultimately lose the close race to Republican Brian Kemp, theNew Georgia Project would go on to help Joe Biden win Georgia, and the presidency, two years later.

What to Know

Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2013 to help register voters of color and increase civic engagement.At the time of her 2018 campaign, the group was led by Raphael Warnock, who is now a sitting U.S. Senator. Abrams has not been affiliated with the organization since she left to run for governor in 2017.

On Wednesday, the group admitted to violating Georgia campaign finance laws byfailing to disclose roughly $4.2 million in contributions to Abrams' campaign and by spending $3.2 million to support herand the Democratic ticket in the 2018 election. It also admitted to spending more than $600,000 on a local ballot initiative election in 2019.

The New Georgia Project and an affiliated group, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, admitted to a total of 16 violations of state campaign finance laws—all of the allegations leveled against them. It also included the group's failure to register as a political committee.

The voting rights group had denied wrongdoing for years, insisting that the investigation was a politically motivated "fishing expedition." The organization alsofought to keep its bank records private until 2022, when a judge ruled that they had to be disclosed.

Prior to Wednesday, Georgia's highest fine for campaign violations was $80,000. It was paid by the Georgia Association of Realtors political action committee in 2008 for failure to disclose contributions.

What People Are Saying

David Emadi, the ethics commission's executive secretary, said in a statement: "While this fine is significant in scale,it is also appropriate given the scope of which state law was violated in this case. This represents the largest and most significant instance ofan organization illegally influencing our statewide elections in Georgia that we have ever discovered, and I believe this sends a clear message to both the public and potential bad actors moving forward that we will hold you accountable."

Aria Branch, counsel to the New Georgia Project, told Newsweek: "We are glad to finally put this matter behind us so the New Georgia Project can fully devote its time and attention to its efforts to civically engage and register black, brown, and young voters in Georgia. While we remain disappointed that the federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act was overturned on entirely procedural grounds, we accept this outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that took place more than five years ago."

Burt Jones, the Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia who is expected to run for governor next year, told the Atlantic Journal-Constitution:"Stacey Abrams will go down as one of the biggest frauds in the history of Georgia politics."

What's Next

Per the consent agreement, the New Georgia Project must pay $150,000 within 30 days and the other half within a year.

https://www.newsweek.com/stacey-abrams-group-handed-georgias-largest-campaign-violation-fine-2015584

PS: this is not new, she hid and stole money for years before and she would never reveal her funding, andher major funder was Kentucky Fried Chicken OwnersKEK

>>22360390, >>22360393 Former FBI Agent and Pentagon Senior Advisor Outed by O’Keefe Media Group was Allegedly Filmed by ‘Predator DC’ in November 2021 at a 15 Year-old Girl’s ‘Home’PN

Anons I remember Booz Allen or another gov contractor talking of sending emails on wiki leaks, they were talking about how they were sending or tracking a plane with young children to Obama WH party, saying the $60,000 for hot dogs were on the wayread this years ago on wiki. Pretty sure it was an arms contractor. Are all the people there perverts or is that how they control all politician?

which the video states is Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH),one of the largest contractors for the United States government. In 2022

>>22362244

I never noticed chaos except maybe the first three weeks in Jan 2018, it cracked me up

Is Cuomo Actually waking Up?Glad we didn't take Fredo out on the lake

Cuomo: We saw the enemy at Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing | Cuomo

Chris Cuomo criticized the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing for prioritizing divisive culture war topics over pressing national security concerns during Pete Hegseth's defense secretary nomination.

9:36

https://youtu.be/913wd6Yq5UM

Ex-US attorney says Bass bears ‘ultimate responsibility’ for failures in fire response

Wed, January 15, 2025 at 7:34 AM

Michel Valentine, former U.S. attorney, blamed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for what he described as failures in the local government’s response to the wildfires.

“In my opinion, as a former prosecutor, this verges on criminal negligence. I say it’s just wrong,” Valentine said in an interview Tuesday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

“A lot of people are at fault,” he continued. “I think Mayor Bass bears the ultimate responsibility for this failure, and I think she should be held accountable. There’s no way that that I could trust her again as my mayor in light of this tragedy. There’s no way.”

Valentine — who said he lives at the top of the Pacific Palisades, next to the ridge line where the fire broke out — described seeing the initial plume of smoke grow rapidly in size last Tuesday. The former federal attorney said his wife called 911, but it took nearly 45 minutes for a helicopter to respond and dump water on the fire.

“I have no idea why that is,” Valentine said, responding to why it took so long to respond. “It could have been confined. It wouldn’t have touched any of the homes.”

“You’re talking to somebody that’s been up in this community for 40 years, and I’ve seen fires. I’ve seen fires during those 40 years, and there’s always been a good response. I don’t know what happened this time,” he added.

The interview comes as Bass faces mounting criticism for her response to the devastating wildfires decimating southern California.

Critics point to Bass’s decision to travel out of the country ahead of the wildfires after she vowed not to go abroad before taking office, as well as her approval of a budget that decreased funding for the city’s fire department.

On Monday, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, called the publication’s endorsement of Bass “a mistake,” noting he “thought it was very important early on for me to come out.”

President-elect Trump has attacked both Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) over the fires. And, as of Tuesday, a Change.org petition calling for Bass to step down has received more than 134,000 signatures.

In a statement to The Hill on Tuesday, Bass’s office slammed what it called misinformation surrounding the crisis and her response.

“Mayor Bass is leading our city through one of the worst crises in our history. Hurricane-force winds and unseasonably dry conditions drove these firestorms — misinformation surrounding this crisis has been staggering,” the mayor’s spokesperson Zach Seidl said.

“Mayor Bass issued a sweeping executive order last night to clear the way to rebuild homes fast and that will do everything she can to get Angelenos back home,” Seidl added.

He continued, saying she “has secured the federal, state, and local resources we need to continue fighting these fires and is moving forward on an all-of-the-above plan for recovery.”

https://news.yahoo.com/news/ex-us-attorney-says-bass-153405984.html