The state ethics commission on Wednesday made the unprecedented move of awarding attorneys fees to the subject of a frivolous complaint.
The commission, formally known as the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, voted unanimously to award $500 in fees to the liberal activist group Better Georgia. The move came after the commission voted to dismiss a complaint filed by St. Mary’s resident James Burnham. Burnham agreed to pay the $500.
It is the first time the commission has used its power to award attorneys fees.
“From the moment we learned about the complaint, we knew that it was politically motivated and completely without merit,” Better Georgia Executive Director Bryan Long said in a statement. “We believe in following the rules, and the results of this case show that we did just that.”
Commission attorney Robert Lane said Burnham’s complaint could have a chilling effect on private communications.
It was “a private communication distributed by Better Georgia to people who joined a mailing list,” Robert Lane said. “If we start deeming that private email communications are independent expenditures for campaigns, we’ll open Pandora’s box.”
Burnham had accused Better Georgia of improperly advocating on behalf of a candidate and of not following disclosure rules.
There was almost a second instance Wednesday. The commission also unanimously dismissed a complaint against Real PAC, the political action committee formed by allies of Gov. Nathan Deal. The complaint, filed by ethics watchdog George Anderson, accused the group of violating disclosure laws and other rules, but the commission found the complaint frivolous and considered awarding attorneys fees.
“This is another example of Mr. Anderson’s complaint style where he throws everything against the wall and hopes that something sticks,” Lane said. “It is a frivolous complaint.”
If fees had been awarded to Real PAC, there would have been no one to accept them, said Ben Vinson, an attorney for the group.
“The simple answer is the PAC has essentially ceased operation,” he said.
In fact, there was almost a third case where attorneys fees would have been awarded. Dwight Johnson of Evans had filed a complaint that accused then-Columbia County Tax Commissioner Kay Allen of failing to disclose thousands of dollars she is paid to collect taxes for a few small towns in eastern Georgia.
Johnson believed the agreements Allen had with those towns represented a “fiduciary position” that had to be disclosed to the ethics commission. Allen’s attorney, Doug Chalmers, successfully got the complaint dismissed and argued that Johnson’s complaint was frivolous and that Johnson should have to pay Chalmers’ fees of more than $1,300.
After a lengthy debate and discussion about whether Johnson had a reasonable reason to believe Allen broke the law and what is the definition of “frivolous,” the board voted 3-1 to deny Chalmers’ request. Commissioner Lawton Jordan voted to award the fees, and Chairwoman Hillary Stringfellow did not vote.
In other action, the commission:
- Voted to create a special subcommittee to review proposed regulations and make a recommendation in February.
- Approved an advisory opinion setting new rules for how political action committees disclose how they raise and spend money.
- Agreed to resume random audits of reports in January. Random audits have not been done for several years.
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