ATLANTA — In response to a complaint filed by the New Southern Majority (NSM), the Georgia State Ethics Commission determined that numerous campaign contributions to Bradford Wheeler, John Cristadoro and Randall Scamihorn in their 2024 Cobb County School Board races violated campaign finance laws.
NSM, an independent expenditure committee that supported candidates in the elections, requested that the Ethics Commission investigate campaign contributions made by Cobb Children First Inc., Business Supporting Schools Inc. and Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP (FMG), through its political action committee, alleging that the entities were one and the same and had therefore exceeded contribution limits.
The Ethics Commission required that money in excess of the $3,300 contribution limit be forfeited to the state by the school board members. However, the amounts were reduced to reflect the funds the members currently have in their campaign accounts. Scamihorn will forfeit $13,200, Cristadoro will forfeit $6,600, and Wheeler will forfeit $5,000. The commission has also fined Cobb Children First and Business Supporting Schools $5,000 each, but has not penalized FMG or Jonathan Crumly, an attorney who was then at the litigation firm, served as the registered agent for both shell companies, and listed his consulting company’s mailing address for both entities.
“Elections for the school board have an outsized impact on children and families, ultimately determining what is taught in schools, what measures are taken to protect the health and safety of children while at school, and how billions in tax dollars are spent,” said Seth Levi, a representative with NSM. “Evading campaign finance laws robs parents and citizens of making informed decisions about what kind of future they want for the children of Cobb County.
“While we are grateful for the commission’s review of the evidence and for the ultimate determination that violations occurred, it is disappointing that the people and organization at the center of this scheme to use shell corporations are not paying a penalty,” Levi added. “Voters have the right to know who exactly is funding their candidates’ campaigns. We hope the scheme we have uncovered will prompt our elected officials to create new policies and laws that provide greater transparency into Georgia’s campaign finance system.”
Information that NSM gathered over the last year can be viewed here. All material is either publicly available or was provided by the parties named in the ethics complaint.
New Southern Majority IE PAC is an independent expenditure committee that promotes candidates running for office in the South who stand for racial justice and work to advance human rights for all people. NSM makes independent expenditures primarily to support candidates running for local office.