A campaign-style attack ad video related to Augusta’s mayoral race emerged on social media recently, leaving many people wondering if such a thing is legal.
Some have wondered about the ad’s legality because it does not have a disclaimer showing who was responsible for its production.
The short video takes aim at Augusta mayoral candidate Garnett Johnson and attempts to portray him as a supporter of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and against Kemp’s challenger in the 2022 gubernatorial election, Stacey Abrams, who is a Democrat.
No candidate in the mayoral races has claimed credit for the video clip. However, according to Joe Cusak, attorney for the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance, while it may walk like a duck and quack like a duck, under the law, the ad is, in fact, not a duck.
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Cusak says the federal law governing campaign ads, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold Act, was passed in 2001, years before social media came about. These days, virtually anyone can produce a slick advertisement on their laptop or phone and upload it to any number of social media sites for free.
“Perhaps technology has outpaced the law somewhat, but really, in this case, it is more an issue of personal free speech. The law is about trying to eliminate the use of dark money from campaign ads and not attempting to curb anyone’s First Amendment rights,” Cusak said.
Cusak’s reference to dark money is precisely what got current Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. in trouble with the Campaign Finance Commission. In that case, a group calling themselves “The Concerned Citizens of Richmond County” purchased billboards in 2018 advocating for the James Brown Arena be moved to the former Regency Mall site.
An extensive investigation has produced evidence that Davis and his staff were largely behind the billboards and that The Concerned Citizens of Richmond County does not exist as a legal organization.
Unlike the mayoral ad circulating on the internet, the billboards in question did have a disclaimer, only they were false or misleading, and money did change hands to produce the billboards.
According to Cusak, whoever produced the social media ad was “clever” not to use any “trigger” language under the law.
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The video proclaims “Augusta supports Stacey Abrams, Garnett Johnson does not,” and it avoids using words and phrases such as “vote for,” “vote against,” “change” or “donate now to stop…” Since Johnson and Abrams are not running against each other, the law stipulates that the video is technically not a campaign ad, but rather an “issue related non-paid advertisement.”
For his part, Johnson says the video is par for the course and that he is glad that people are using social media to exercise their free speech, noting that his supporters have been very vocal on social media by sharing copies of his campaign signs.
“I am a capitalist. Have I supported Governor Kemp in the past? Yes, I have. But I have also supported Stacey Abrams, and I have supported Senator Warnock as well. I feel you have to try and work with everyone you can if you want to get things done,” Johnson said.
Former Augusta Mayor Bob Young saw the video in question on social media, and from his response, he seemed to take no issue with it. He simply typed “And…?”
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
