The Georgia State Ethics Commission has imposed a fine of $300,000 on an organization that was initially established by Stacey Abrams for breaching campaign finance regulations in the state elections held in 2018 and 2019.
The New Georgia Project has been found to have violated several provisions of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act, as stated in a consent order obtained by 11Alive News. The Commission has adopted this order, which has also been agreed upon by representatives of the New Georgia Project.
The Republican-controlled Ethics Commission voted unanimously to impose a hefty fine of $300,000. This decision, made during a meeting on Wednesday morning, marks the largest ethics fine ever issued by the Georgia Ethics Commission. David Emadi, the executive director of the commission, emphasized the significance of this fine.
According to David Fox, an attorney representing the organization who attended the Commission meeting via Zoom, the allegations are related to events that took place in the past. He further stated that the New Georgia Project is enthusiastic about resolving this matter and moving forward.
“We believe this is a reasonable resolution to this longstanding dispute that will allow everyone to move forward,” Fox added.
The New Georgia Project counsel, Aria Branch, expressed relief in a statement, stating, “We are pleased to finally resolve this issue and allow the New Georgia Project to focus entirely on its mission of engaging and registering Black, brown, and young voters in Georgia.”
The Ethics Commission consent order states that during the 2018 election cycle, the New Georgia Project and its affiliated organization, New Georgia Project Action Fund, Inc., were involved in partisan campaign activities in support of Democrat Stacey Abrams and other statewide candidates. According to the consent order, this activity should have prompted the organizations to comply with campaign finance disclosure requirements.
According to a probable cause finding cited in the consent order, the organization neglected to disclose around $4,216,783.07 in contributions and $3,200,449.00 in expenditures during the 2018 election cycle.
According to the order, the New Georgia Project did not register as an independent committee and as a result, it spent unreported and unregulated funds to influence the election in favor of Stacey Abrams and other statewide candidates.
The Ethics Commission, as per the order, also determined that the organization neglected to disclose a total of $646,422.89 in contributions and $173,643.00 in expenditures associated with the 2019 MARTA referendum in Gwinnett County.
The consent order issued on Wednesday marks the most recent development in an ongoing investigation into the financial disclosures of the New Georgia Project. Stacey Abrams founded the organization in 2013, and it was officially incorporated in 2017, as stated in the order.