State ethics commission approves $300,000 consent order with New Georgia Project and affiliated action fund

The Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission on Jan. 15 approved a consent order with New Georgia Project, Inc., and New Georgia Project Action Fund, Inc., resolving allegations that the organizations failed to register and report millions of dollars in contributions and expenditures during the 2018 statewide election cycle and the 2019 MARTA referendum.

Commission staff attorney David Amati told commissioners that the agency’s investigation and subsequent litigation produced bank records and other evidence showing extensive electioneering activity and undisclosed financial transactions. “Following receiving those bank records, we amended the complaint with specificity,” Amati said during the meeting, and presented a consent order in which the respondents admitted the violations and agreed to a $300,000 fine.

The consent order recites that the entities raised and did not publicly disclose more than $4.2 million in contributions and more than $3.2 million in expenditures during the 2018 election cycle, and that they raised roughly $646,000 and spent about $173,000 without required disclosure in the 2019 MARTA referendum. According to Amati’s summary, the staff’s evidence included campaign mailers and social-media solicitations, field-office operations and canvass scripts, invoices for door hangers and palm cards, and checks and vendor payments that flowed through New Georgia Project accounts rather than a separately registered action committee.

David Fox, counsel for the respondents, addressed the commission remotely and said the organizations disputed aspects of the staff’s factual presentation but supported the resolution. “Respondents are eager to put the matter behind them,” Fox said, calling the consent order a reasonable resolution of a long-standing dispute.

Commissioners discussed the lengthy procedural history: the complaint was filed in September 2019, subpoenas and related litigation continued through state courts, bank records were produced in March 2022, the commission found reasonable grounds in August 2022, and the case later returned from federal litigation before the parties reached the consent agreement. Several commissioners praised staff for persisting through years of litigation and complex discovery.

Chairman (name recorded in the meeting minutes) moved to adopt the consent order. The motion carried; the chair called for the ayes, and the commission approved the order.

The consent order requires the respondents to pay a $300,000 civil penalty to the state and includes admissions that they failed to register as independent and ballot committees when required, failed to file required periodic and supplemental disclosure reports, and failed to disclose the donors and expenditures specified in the order. The order notes that New Georgia Project and the action fund operated in practice as a single operation for the relevant activity, with many vendor invoices and payroll payments made from New Georgia Project accounts.

The commission’s action ends the agency’s administrative proceeding by agreement; the order states the respondents ‘‘represent that the foregoing findings of fact are true, agree with the conclusions of law, and further agree to abide by all terms of this order.’’ The commission did not announce additional follow-up tasks beyond the terms in the consent order.

Background: Commission staff said the organizations conducted door-to-door canvassing, phone banking and targeted field operations in 2018 and 2019; staff presented advertising and canvass scripts, vendor invoices (including invoices for tens of thousands of door hangers and palm cards), and payroll/check records showing payments for canvassers and vendors. The order states the organizations failed to file multiple reports required by Georgia law for independent committees and, for the 2019 MARTA referendum, failed to register as a ballot committee once spending crossed the statutory threshold.

The commission’s action followed extensive discovery and court rulings in state and federal courts. The consent order and the commission’s findings describe both the scope of activity and the legal conclusions that the respondents violated Georgia’s campaign finance and disclosure statutes.

Looking ahead, the consent order resolves the administrative claims reflected in the commission’s amended complaint; the commission did not state additional administrative hearings scheduled for this matter.