Burt Jones can keep raising unlimited cash in Georgia governor race

Carr also was prohibited from raising money during this year’s 40-day legislative session, while Jones’ committee raised about $757,000 during the session, campaign records show.

But U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert dismissed the case Thursday. She ruled Carr lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit.

Calvert agreed the unequal treatment had hindered Carr’s First Amendment right to free speech. But she also agreed with Jones’ attorneys, who argued, among other things, that Carr’s complaint should have challenged the validity of the law that created leadership committees, rather than Jones’ use of his committee.

“Plaintiffs appear to allege that defendants are doing exactly what Georgia law allows them to do,” Calvert wrote. “While this has injured plaintiff, the court agrees that the defendants are not the cause of that injury.”

Carr’s campaign did not rule out an appeal of Calvert’s decision.

“The court acknowledged that this statute gives Burt Jones an unfair and harmful advantage — the same conclusion other federal judges have reached when examining it,” spokesperson Julia Mazonne said. “The case was dismissed on a procedural technicality, not on the merits. We are reviewing all legal options to right this wrong.”

Jones spokeswoman Kendyl Parker questioned Carr’s legal skills after the suit was dismissed.

“If Chris is this bad at being a lawyer, why would anyone want to give him a promotion?” she said.

Carr’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges involving leadership committees since the General Assembly created them in 2021.

The committees are not subject to some restrictions that apply to candidates for public office. In addition to unlimited contributions and fundraising during the legislative session, such committees also can coordinate with candidates.

Under the law, the governor, lieutenant governor, the Republican and Democratic nominees for those offices and legislative leaders of both parties can form leadership committees.

In 2022, Republican David Perdue and Democrat Stacey Abrams challenged Gov. Brian Kemp’s use of his leadership committee as he sought reelection. The judge in those cases prohibited Kemp’s committee from raising and spending money to reelect Kemp until after the primary election.

Calvert took note of those decisions in Thursday’s ruling. But she noted key differences between those cases and Carr’s lawsuit.

The previous lawsuits challenged the constitutionality of the law itself and named the State Ethics Commission — charged with enforcing campaign finance laws — as a defendant. Carr’s lawsuit did not.

Calvert also noted the judge’s orders in those previous cases applied only to Kemp’s committee and other parties to those cases, and the judge never reached a final decision on whether leadership committees were unconstitutional. She said Jones was not bound to follow those orders.