Capitol Beat News Service
- Georgia Senate Republicans aim to investigate Stacey Abrams and groups connected to her regarding campaign finance issues.
- The investigation stems from a $300,000 fine levied against Abrams’ groups for failing to disclose millions in contributions and spending during the 2018 election cycle.
- Democrats criticize the investigation as politically motivated and a distraction from more pressing issues.
The Republican chairman of a special committee of the Georgia Senate that has been investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has introduced legislation that would expand the committee’s scope to include former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“I think we ought to get to the bottom of these allegations,” Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, said Feb. 28, explaining why he had introduced Senate Resolution 292 the day before.
Cowsert was referring to a settlement agreement in January between the Georgia Ethics Commission and groups founded by Abrams.
The New Georgia Project and a separate fundraising arm, the New Georgia Action Fund, agreed to pay $300,000 for failing to disclose $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in spending during the 2018 election cycle on behalf of Abrams’ unsuccessful bid for governor.
It was the largest fine ever assessed by the Ethics Commission.
Cowsert’s Special Committee on Investigations was created last year in the wake of Republican anger over Willis’ criminal case against President Donald Trump and others who helped his effort to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Willis has refused the Cowsert committee’s summons to testify, fighting it in court.
Cowsert said he plans to call Abrams to testify after the legislative session ends on April 4. His committee has no punitive powers, but Cowsert said prosecutors would likely be watching its work.
“We need to learn what’s going on out there, what’s permitted, and see if those guardrails are sufficient or not,” he said.
Democrats say it’s just a political stunt.
Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, slammed the proposed investigation of Abrams as just “mud and dirt.” It’s a distraction from “real issues,” such as the housing crisis, he said.
