The following story was written by Leighton Rowell, a University of Georgia student part of The Georgia News Lab, which trains students in investigative journalism and partners with the AJC and WSB-TV to showcase their work.
The contributions, made in December and January, came from industry groups such as the Georgia Beverage Association (BEVPAC), the Georgia Manufacturers PAC, the Georgia Oilmen’s Association, the Georgia Mining Association, the Georgia Restaurant Association and the Georgia Health Care Association.
As Political Insider reported in December, while campaigning for office Gilligan criticized the role special interest groups play in politics and said she would not take money from them.
"I am not accepting donations from any special interest or corporations because when I cast my first vote, I do not want to owe anyone anything except the voters who sent me to represent them," Gilligan told the Forsyth Herald in June.
Campaign disclosure reports show that in July Gilligan received contributions from AFC and from NFIB , which lobby on behalf of school choice and small business. Those donations, each for $500, made up about 3 percent of the contributions Gilligan received before she was elected.
Asked by the AJC in December about the AFC and NFIB donations, Gilligan said the groups shared her positions on education and business.
Leighton Rowell, a senior at the University of Georgia, is a student in the Georgia News Lab, a collaboration among Georgia’s leading journalism programs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News. This story, along with an earlier one in December resulted from an analysis of Rep. Gilligan’s campaign records that Rowell conducted as part of a News Lab investigation.
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