Judge rejects Brad Raffensperger’s bid to loosen spending limits in Georgia governor’s race

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge has rejected for now Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ‘s bid to gain more spending power in the state’s governor’s race, upholding campaign finance rules that some Republicans argue give certain candidates an unfair advantage.

Raffensperger’s independent political action committee, Safe Affordable Georgia, filed a federal lawsuit in December asking permission to raise unlimited funds for his campaign. One of his opponents in the GOP primary, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, has been able to do that under a 2021 state law that created leadership committees like the one he chairs, which can raise unlimited funds for candidates.

Attorneys for Safe Affordable Georgia argued current law violates Raffensperger’s First Amendment rights by subjecting him to different rules than his opponent and requested that the limits for his committee be waived during the ongoing campaign.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross said in her order issued Tuesday that Safe Affordable Georgia’s arguments did not meet the legal standard for her to do that, while acknowledging the law giving special treatment to Jones’ leadership committee is likely unconstitutional. Raffensperger has appealed the ruling.

Under the 2021 law, leadership committees can raise money year-round for a variety of election-related activities and candidates. The chairperson of those committees must be the governor, lieutenant governor, party nominees for those offices or legislative leaders, giving the people who occupy those spots a potential significant edge when running for office themselves.

“Hardworking Georgians deserve elections where the rules are the same for everyone, no matter what title or office you hold,” Safe Affordable Georgia said in a statement. “That’s what the Constitution requires, and that’s why we’ll keep fighting in Court to do what’s in the best interest of Georgia voters.”

David Dove, an attorney for the state, said in court that if the judge let Raffensperger skirt the campaign finance law intended to thwart corruption, courts would see a flood of similar requests that would open the door to dark money. Such a move “totally upends the way Georgia can regulate campaign finance,” Dove said.

There is “no end to where the total number of committees could end up under this regime,” he said.

Charles Miller, a lawyer representing Safe Affordable Georgia, said legislators weren’t worried about corruption when they let top state officials raise unlimited sums of money for their leadership committees. Therefore, he said, they shouldn’t be concerned about corruption in other committees.

Raffensperger in January 2021 famously refused a demand from President Donald Trump in a phone call to “find” enough votes to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.

Jones’ leadership committee received $100,000 in contributions from four sources and around 60 donations of $10,000 or more, Safe Affordable Georgia noted in court records. Candidate committees can raise a maximum of $8,400 from each donor.

Another Republican gubernatorial candidate, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, cited a related federal court ruling in his lawsuit seeking to prevent Jones from raising money using his leadership committee.

But a judge dismissed Carr’s suit in August, ruling he should have challenged the constitutionality of the law. Like Raffensperger, supporters of Carr have established an independent committee that can’t coordinate with Carr’s campaign.

An opinion adopted by the Georgia Ethics Commission in December found that Jones is allowed to loan $10 million to his leadership committee, even though Carr alleged it evaded campaign finance restrictions. The opinion clears Jones to keep spending his family fortune to pursue the Republican nomination. Jones filed documents showing he made loans of $7.5 million and $2.5 million to the WBJ Leadership Committee when he announced his run for governor on July 8.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.