Georgia limits campaign donations — except when it doesn’t
There is a limit to how much money political candidates for state office can get from donors — sometimes.
Candidates can’t raise money during the legislative session — unless they can.
Big-money interests are required to disclose their efforts to influence Georgia politics — unless they’re not.
It’s a big election year in Georgia, and candidates and political committees will spend tens of millions of dollars to influence the outcome. But the rules governing the raising and spending of campaign cash can be confusing.
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Here’s what you need to know about Georgia’s campaign finance laws.
Contribution limits: Georgia law caps contributions to political candidates. For statewide candidates, such as governor and lieutenant governor, donors can give up to $8,400 to each candidate for each primary and general election, plus another $4,800 for runoff elections. Contributions to other state and local candidates are capped at $3,300 per primary and general election and $1,800 for runoffs.
However, contributions to the political parties and political committees, like the conservative Hardworking Americans or the liberal Fair Fight, are not limited.
Fundraising during the legislative session: State legislators are prohibited from raising money during the legislative session. The idea is to discourage even the appearance that campaign contributions influence pending legislation.
But challengers to those state lawmakers can still raise money during the session. That often makes legislators eager to finish their legislative work during an election year so they can get back to raising money to defend their seats.
Statewide officers — governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general, among others — also can’t raise money during the legislative session. For example, Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger can’t raise money during the session as they run for governor, although other gubernatorial candidates can continue raising cash.
Political committees: Georgia allows a variety of political groups to influence elections and politics, with some limits.
Political action committees can raise unlimited cash. But their activities are limited to contributing to candidates and political causes, and contributions to those candidates or causes are subject to caps.
Independent committees can raise unlimited sums to back political candidates and causes. They can spend it, too, but that spending must be independent — the committees can’t coordinate their spending with candidates.
Political parties can raise and spend unlimited amounts to support candidates and causes. They’re able to coordinate their expenditures with multiple candidates.
Finally, leadership committees can raise and spend unlimited cash to support candidates and causes. They can raise money during the legislative session and can coordinate their spending with candidates.
Under Georgia law, only the governor, lieutenant governor, the Democratic and Republican nominees for those offices and state legislative leaders of both parties can have leadership committees.
Leadership committees can be formidable fundraising tools for those who have them. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ committee, for example, can raise money to promote his gubernatorial campaign, while Carr and Raffensperger cannot. And last year, Gov. Brian Kemp threatened to unleash his war chest to unseat Republican legislators who voted against legislation limiting lawsuits — a threat that helped secure the bill’s passage.
Candidates from both parties have filed lawsuits saying leadership committees have given Kemp and Jones unfair and illegal advantages. Some of those lawsuits have limited the use of leadership committees. Raffensperger is the latest to challenge the law.
Disclosure: State law includes provisions designed to allow citizens to monitor the rivers of cash flooding Georgia politics. Candidates and political committees must register and disclose contributions and spending above certain amounts. Under a new campaign finance law, they’ll all report their transactions four times a year (the next reporting deadline is Jan. 31).
But the system has blind spots. A mysterious Delaware-based group called Georgians for Integrity has spent about $8 million on ads attacking Jones ahead of this year’s gubernatorial race. It has not registered in Georgia or disclosed its donors. It appears to be getting around reporting requirements by avoiding explicit references to the governor’s race.
Jones has filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission that seeks to force the group to register and disclose its donors.
About the Author
David Wickert writes about the state budget, finance and voting issues. Previously, he covered local government and politics in Gwinnett and Fulton counties. Before moving to Atlanta, he worked at newspapers in Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
