OK, first off I am not a lawyer and I’m not even remotely qualified to begin having an opinion on anything legal. So take that massive caveat however you want when reading this post.
The Stacey Abrams campaign alleges the Stacey Evans campaign created a 501(c)4, Hope for Georgia, to shield donor privacy. In fact evidence is presented with a Evans staffer Josh White writing: “We moved everything to a c4 structure for donor privacy.”
Oops.
The documents filed with the Georgia Ethics Commission (which will be attached when we sort out our technical issues) make a compelling argument but see my first sentence for the caveat. That said, it’s all so obvious that I kind of refuse to believe the Hope for Georgia folks would be this transparent if they were acting nefariously.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, Campaign Manager for Stacey Abrams for Governor who filed the complaint said in a press release: “We are saddened that the Evans campaign is running an old playbook to attack and smear, and has now gone a step further by forming a dark money group to circumvent campaign laws and shield donors from disclosure.”
The Evans campaign said they were reviewing the complaint, having just seen it. I will provide an update when I receive their response.