CREW files FEC complaint against Georgia dark money groups

An FEC complaint filed today by CREW on behalf of three Georgia voters alleges that Policies, Solutions, and Action for America, RightOn Issues, Inc., RightOn Time, Georgia United Victory and Georgia Action Fund all violated the Federal Election Campaign Act after the groups failed to disclose the contributor who gave money to influence federal elections.

In 2020, an unknown donor gave over $3 million to PSAA. The newly-created group contributed just under half of its funds to a super PAC, Georgia United Victory, which then spent the funds attacking former U.S. Senate candidate Doug Collins. PSAA gifted nearly all of the remaining funds to another nonprofit, RightOn Issues.

RightOn Issues proceeded to take its $1.5 million gift from PSAA and divide it amongst Georgia United Victory and two other super PACs, Georgia Action Fund and RightOn Time. Georgia Action Fund used its donations to attack Senator Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate runoff campaign, while RightOn Time paid a Georgia company for “Get Out The Vote” mailers. Beyond contributing to super PACs, RightOn Issues also ran ads on Facebook and sent out mailers that urged readers to vote against socialists and depicted well-known Democratic officials. In the end, nearly $2.8 million of the $3.1 million donation was spent on political activity without disclosure about the source of these funds. 

“The lengths these groups went to in order to avoid disclosing the funding and scope of their political activity is mind-boggling. They secretly wielded their influence to shape the outcome of a federal election,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “The FEC must act to appropriately address these serious violations, including if appropriate referring this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.”

The law requires the disclosure of the true source of political contributions and bars contributions in the name of another. It also requires political committees like super PACs to report the identity of the true source of contributions and anyone who acted as a conduit for a contribution.

“By remaining anonymous, these donors and groups shield themselves from accountability and transparency from the very voters they are trying to influence,” said Bookbinder. “Voters need to know whose money is infiltrating our political system so they can make informed decisions when they go to the ballot box.”