Better Georgia, the left-of-center start-up group, was slapped with an ethics complaint claiming the organization improperly engaged in direct campaign activity that needles -- as it often does -- Gov. Nathan Deal. It was later dismissed by the state ethics commission as “legally and factually frivolous.”
James Burnham of St. Marys said in a complaint filed in July that an email he received from the group in May -- slamming Deal -- amounted to political conduct that doesn’t comport with its tax status.
He said Better Georgia, designated as a nonprofit social welfare organization, should instead be an independent expenditure committee which would be subject to state and federal disclosure requirements.
Update: While the complaint lists Burnham as a physician, a Google search turns up no such figure -- but does point to a prominent chiropractic practice.
Better Georgia spokesman Brandon Hanick said Burnham was a "Republican party loyalist," noting his role as a host of local GOP events. He called the complaint was an election-year tactic "as evidenced by the fact that the press was tipped off about the complaint" before his organization received it.
The ethics commission found the group didn’t meet the definition of an independent committee and that it didn’t have jurisdiction to enforce the contents of private communication it sends to email subscribers. Burnham agreed to pay $500 in attorney’s fees to settle the complaint.
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