Georgia Senate to investigate Stacey Abrams and New Georgia Project

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Senate Resolution 292, introduced by Senate GOP leaders, directs the panel to investigate the New Georgia Project’s involvement with Abrams’ campaign, as well as a $2 billion federal grant to another group with Abrams ties, Power Forward Communities.

The investigation amounts to a full-frontal attack on Abrams, a two-time candidate for governor who has not ruled out a third run for the office. It comes from a legislative body led by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — himself a likely candidate for governor next year.

“The people of Georgia were defrauded by Stacey Abrams. She’s now been forced to admit it and tried to get it to go away,” Jones said in a statement Friday.

“But Georgians want real accountability,” Jones said. “With these subpoena powers, my office is going to get to the truth. In Georgia, nobody is above the law, even if they were a darling of MSNBC. Anyone who broke the law and stole from taxpayers, including Stacey Abrams, should go to jail.”

Abrams, who left the New Georgia Project before she launched her first campaign for governor, issued a statement late Friday defending her work across the state registering and turning out thousands of voters.

“Georgia Republicans are so terrified of the power of the people, they’re lashing out with unfounded attacks and baseless investigations that waste taxpayer dollars,” she said.

“Republicans simply don’t like that we’re bringing more Georgians into the political process — and that we’re delivering.”

Adding Abrams to the committee’s agenda means it will be investigating two of the state’s most prominent Democrats, both Black women. It also comes as Senate Republicans generate dozens of proposals meant to advance Trump’s agenda.

As part of a consent order with the State Ethics Commission, the New Georgia Project admitted it raised and spent millions of dollars to support Abrams’ unsuccessful 2018 campaign without registering as an independent political committee and disclosing its activities. It agreed to pay the largest fine ever assessed for violating Georgia campaign finance laws.

The organization has also faced mounting internal turmoil and layoffs. The group’s head, Francys Johnson, told staffers this week that he was stepping down because he’s “probably done all the good I can do, and my presence is a distraction to our mission.”

Abrams founded the group in 2013 to register Black, Hispanic, Asian and young voters. But during the campaign it crossed the line into advocacy and, according to the consent order, the group failed to disclose $4.2 million in campaign contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures.

The Republican-backed probe also calls for the Senate panel to investigate the details of a recent $2 billion Environmental Protection Agency grant to Power Forward Communities that has come under scrutiny from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency initiative and Environmental Protection Administrator Lee Zeldin.

The GOP criticism takes aim at what PolitiFact called “a coalition of clean energy groups, including one in which Abrams previously was a senior counsel.” The fact-checking organization found no evidence that Abrams received any of the grant money.

The Georgia Senate measure specifically calls for an inquiry “to determine if any link exists between organizations receiving federal funds and political activities occurring within the State of Georgia, such as the alleged and admitted conduct by multiple organizations associated with Stacey Abrams.”

The Senate resolution was introduced days before a key legislative deadline, though with Jones’ backing it seems certain to pass the Senate.

Republican senators initially created the special committee last year to investigate Willis after she acknowledged a romantic relationship with a top deputy that led the Georgia Court of Appeals to disqualify her from the Trump case. The committee has held several hearings scrutinizing the relationship, as well as spending in her office.

Willis and fellow Democrats have accused the panel of conducting a political witch hunt. She has fought subpoenas seeking documents and testimony. But in December a judge ruled the panel has the authority to compel Willis to testify. State Sen. Bill Cowsert, the panel‘s chair, said he’s also likely to demand that Abrams testify.

The move to now broaden the committee’s work to include Abrams drew swift condemnation from the Senate’s top Democrat.

“I find it ironic that the ‘cut the red tape’ Republicans, pushing for our government to take a back seat, are now OK with wasting time and taxpayer dollars on performing political prosecution theater, specifically, now on a second politically involved Black woman,” said Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II.