Ethics complaints filed against 3 top contenders in governor’s race

A month before Georgia primary voters hash out the nominees for governor, three of the top contenders have been targeted with ethics complaints.

Stacey Abrams’ campaign manager lodged a complaint Friday claiming that aides to her Democratic rival, Stacey Evans, violated state ethics rules by form- ing a third-party organization to take in unlimited contributions to help her campaign.

A day before, a watchdog activist filed a complaint against Abrams raising questions about $84,000 in reimbursements from her campaign committees over several years that lack details about how the money was spent.

And the same activist, William Perry of Georgia Ethics Watchdogs, also asked investigators to scrutinize Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s use of a state airplane to travel to Savannah in November 2016.

The complaints come as attention on the May 22 primary is beginning to intensify. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News poll shows that more than half of likely Democratic primary voters are still undecided between the two candidates. Cagle and four other lead- ing Republicans — former state Sen. Hunter Hill, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, businessman Clay Tippins and state Sen. Michael Williams — are also locked in a tight race.

Here’s a closer look at each of the complaints:

Evans

The complaint was filed by Lauren Groh-Wargo, a top Abrams adviser. It alleges that Joshua White, who was an Evans staffer, sent an email last week soliciting funds for a newly formed 501(c) (4) organization called Hope for Georgiadesigned to shield donors from disclosure.

The third-party group was created earlier this month by Linda DiSantis, a former city of Atlanta attorney who is the mother of Evans’ strategist Jeff DiSantis,

according to records. The complaint cites an email from White seeking donations to the group.

“We moved everything to a C4 structure for donor privacy,” he wrote in the April 18 email to undisclosed recipients. “We have a third of the budget in the door and are trying to fill the gap. We know that the messaging is working and Evans is moving up fast.”

The complaint cites state law that prohibits candidates from coordinating with outside organizations on campaign activities. It called Hope for Georgia’s creation a “blatant attempt” to circumvent the law compounded by the involvement of Ms. DiSantis.

White confessed to authorities in 2006 to setting fire to a campaign office of Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor when he was an aide to Taylor, then a candidate for governor. White said he set the fire to cover up the fact that he missed a crucial project deadline.

Another wrinkle: Linda DiSantis was once Abrams’ boss. And her son Jeff was incorrectly listed on the complaint as Evans’ campaign manager instead of Candice Franklin.

Evans spokesman Seth Clark called the complaint “frivolous” and said it was “filled with factual inaccuracies and false assertions.” He said White hasn’t worked for Evans’ campaign for months, and that there was no connection between the campaign and the organization.

Abrams

This complaint details dozens of campaign finance records between 2006 and 2017 amounting to nearly $84,000 in reimbursements from Abrams’ accounts.

It claims several entries for large sums are “inadequate, vague and lacking in statutorily required information” — including several that simply say “reimbursement.” It said those broad terms are in “clear violation” of state ethics rules that require candidates to identify how the money is spent.

The Abrams campaign said it expects the complaint to be dismissed but added that it would cooperate with the board’s decision.

“When Stacey Abrams became House Democratic leader, she inherited a caucus that was $75,000 in debt and had critical elections ahead of her, so she invested in Democrats to win six seats and blocked a Republican supermajority,” spokeswoman Priyanka Mantha said. “She was reimbursed for that effort.”

Cagle

This complaint alleges that Cagle violated ethics rules by using a taxpayer-funded flight to take him to a fundraiser in Savannah. It cites state records that show Cagle traveling from Gainesville to Savannah on Nov. 10, 2016.

At the same time, a Caglealigned group known as the Georgia Conservatives Fund raised about $212,000 from donors in Savannah. Perry said a review of social media accounts and local media reports doesn’t show any public or official events in Savannah to justify the trip.

Cagle campaign manager Scott Binkley called the allegations a sign that “silly season is upon us.” He provided a brochure that showed Cagle as a speaker at an annual Georgia Hospital Association conference on Nov. 10.

“This type of activity is exactly what his official office travel budget is for,” Binkley said. “Casey spends those funds conservatively, using half of what his office budget allows for air travel every year.”