The New Georgia Project, a prominent voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, was charged with illegally campaigning for Abrams and other Democratic candidates during the 2018 election cycle. Fined $300,000 by the Georgia Ethics Commission.

The consent order ends a years-long investigation that revealed voting rights groups violated state campaign finance laws by raising and spending millions of dollars to support candidates without proper registration and disclosures. It's the largest fine in Georgia history, according to the state Ethics Commission.

During the 2018 election cycle, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, now a U.S. Senator from Georgia, served as chairman of the organization's board of directors. He resigned as chairman in January 2020.

Ethics committee investigators noted explicit pro-Abrams talking points in scripts written by New Georgia Project lobbyists and phone bank callers, and how the group used social media to promote donations to Blue Ops and Democratic campaigns. Link. The group has also been accused of conducting an illegal bus referendum campaign in suburban Gwinnett County, the Atlanta area.

“If an organization is running as an independent commission in Georgia, they must register with the commission,” said Dave Emadi, executive secretary of the state Ethics Commission.

"They have to disclose the money they raise and the source of the money - where they bring the dollars from. They have to disclose how they spend the money, they have to indicate in the disclosure what they support or oppose and name the candidates. "

The commission voted unanimously to issue the fine after a presentation showed insufficient independence between the New Georgia Project and its associated Super Pacific Action Fund, the New Georgia Project Action Fund.

Emadi said the New Georgia Project admitted to 16 violations involving $4.2 million in donations and $3.2 million in expenditures during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

While this finding applies to state law, federal law also prohibits organizations designated as charities like the New Georgia Project from directly campaigning for candidates.

Georgia’s political establishment has long been indifferent to formal ethics complaints. In 2019, allegations emerged of inappropriate spending in support of Democratic candidates. At the time, the state Ethics Commission was emerging from a period of compromised leadership. The company's former top executive has been replaced amid accusations he viewed pornography at work and failed to investigate.

The case has faced three appeals during its appeal, including once through federal court. It wasn't until 2022 that the Ethics Commission held a probable cause hearing.

Abrams and Warnock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“We are pleased to finally put this matter behind us so that the New Georgia Project can fully invest its time and energy in efforts to engage and register Black, brown and young voters in Georgia,” New Georgia Project Legal said consultant Aria Branch. Georgia Project in a statement.

“While we remain disappointed that a federal court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act was overturned solely on procedural grounds, we accept the outcome and are eager to turn the page on activities that occurred more than five years ago. New page."