by Ty Tagami | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Chris Carr, Georgia’s attorney general and a candidate for governor, is suing his Republican primary opponent in federal court over a campaign finance issue.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta filed Thursday follows a complaint by Carr against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones that was dismissed by the State Ethics Commission last month.
In the new case and the old, the complaints involve Jones’ use of a “leadership committee” to lend his campaign $10 million.
Jones started his WBJ Leadership Committee under a 2021 state law that allows him to collect unlimited sums due to his role as lieutenant governor.
“Mr. Carr has the right to enjoy the equal protection of the law, especially where, as here, unequal treatment under the law burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to free speech under the First Amendment,” says the lawsuit. The suit, filed by Carr personally and by his campaign, also alleges that Jones’ use of his leadership committee violates the 14th Amendment guarantees of freedom of association and speech.
“While other candidates are bound by strict fundraising caps, Jones is using a separate political entity with no accountability — effectively giving himself a second campaign committee bankrolled by special interests,” Carr’s campaign said.
“Leadership committees were never intended to be unregulated campaign machines,” Carr spokeswoman Julia Mazzone added.
The Jones camp accused Carr of hypocrisy.
“Georgia’s lackluster attorney general defended this law two years ago,” Jones spokeswoman Kendyl Parker said. “Now, he’s running for governor and wants to challenge the same law he once defended. If hypocrisy were an Olympic sport, he’d take gold.”
Last month, the ethics commission dismissed a Carr complaint about Jones’ use of his leadership committee to lend himself $10 million, noting that Jones filed a financial disclosure in 2022 reporting his $12 million net worth but only $700,000 in liquid assets.
The ethics committee responded that the three-year-old financial disclosure report “does not form a factual and legal basis to investigate an alleged false or incorrect filing” about Jones’ recent loan to his campaign.
