Georgia GOP operative Nick Ayers has had the kind of meteoric political rise that most only dream of, ascending from Sonny Perdue's teenage body man to high-flying political consultant to Vice President Mike Pence's top aide in roughly 15 years.
Since arriving in Washington, Ayers, 35, has worked behind the scenes to insulate Pence from various West Wing maelstroms while securing promotions for several longtime Georgia hands, including his former boss.
One thing he hasn’t done is comment on the downfall of one of his former clients, ex-Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. Greitens, you may remember, was the square-jawed Navy SEAL who resigned in disgrace in May amid twin scandals involving an extramarital affair with his former hairdresser and his campaign finances.
The steady drip of new details regarding the latter has proven hard to curtail.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington last week filed a federal complaint centering on some $6 million in so-called dark money that entered the 2016 race. According to the Kansas City Star, the left-leaning government watchdog group alleged that two PACs and a pair nonprofits deliberately and illegally hid the identity of the donors. Two of the entities named are linked to Ayers, who also served as Greitens' top campaign consultant.
Ayers recently sold off his businesses as outside scrutiny of his finances has grown. Now that he's reportedly on the short list to be President Donald Trump's next chief of staff, we wonder how much more we'll see about his involvement in Show-Me State politics – or whether that chapter of his career will be relegated to footnote status in his rapid rise to the top in Washington.
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It took about six months, but the Georgia Ethics Commission tossed a complaint filed shortly after the mayoral election accusing the Democratic Party of Georgia of "campaign mischief" for sending out volleys of campaign mailers attacking Mary Norwood as a closet conservative. The complaint was filed by the Log Cabin Republicans, which is headed by Norwood campaign treasurer Jamie Ensley, and accused the party of skirting campaign finance rules by attaching the names of two Democrats - House Minority Leader Bob Trammell and state Sen. Nan Orrock - at the bottom of each mailer. The commission said in a June 19 letter to Trammell that it concluded the violations were either "unfounded" or permissible.
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A New York candidate appears to have lifted portions of his campaign website from that of former Georgia congressional hopeful Jon Ossoff. Per The Buffalo News, nearly 20 passages from Democrat Max Della Pia's bio echo Ossoff's, some word for word:
For example, Della Pia's website says he "knows, first-hand, how hard it is to start a small business, grow a company, meet a payroll, and balance budgets." And the Ossoff website says Ossoff "knows what it means to grow a company, meet a payroll, and balance budgets."
A Della Pia spokeswoman told the Buffalo News that a campaign volunteer was to blame for the cut-and-paste job and that the questionable passages would be rewritten.
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Secretary of State Brian Kemp is hitting the road again next week, launching a bus tour through parts of rural Georgia where he's relying on heavy turnout to beat Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in the July 24 GOP runoff for governor.
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