Oct. 22—A ballot committee which supported the unsuccessful East Cobb cityhood movement in the May primary election has been fined $5,000 by the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.
The fine was levied after the ethics commission found the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb violated state campaign finance law by not filing a campaign contribution disclosure report 15 days before the election.
In a consent order approved by the commission last month, the committee agreed to pay the fine and make the required disclosures. Cityhood committee president Craig Chapin signed off on the order.
Before voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposed city, its opponents had charged that the cityhood committee was illegally hiding its financial backers.
Bob Lax, a cityhood opponent, filed a complaint with the ethics commission in May.
At the time, cityhood advocates argued the committee’s status as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization meant it was not required to file such a disclosure. The ethics commission disagreed.
State law requires that groups advocating for or against a ballot question, such as cityhood, must register as a ballot committee with the ethics commission, if they raise or spend more than $500. Pro- and anti-cityhood groups are also required to file a contribution report 15 days before the election. The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb didn’t comply with either of those rules, commission staff found.
Commission staff reported in the consent order that the cityhood committee cooperated with the investigation.
The cityhood committee told the commission that “it previously sought advice but there was a misunderstanding of the requirements and that it mistakenly thought it was not required to register as a ballot committee and report its activity,” commission staff wrote.
Contributions belatedly revealed
Despite 73% of voters rejecting cityhood, the pro-cityhood movement vastly outraised the anti-cityhood group, the contribution report reveals. As of May 9, it had raised about $112,500 and spent roughly $64,300.
As the MDJ reported before the election, the anti-cityhood East Cobb Alliance reported raising a little more than $29,000 as of May 9. Its single largest donor — giving a combined $3,867 — was listed as Stephen Sprinkle of Marietta, who identified himself as retired. All of the anti-cityhood group’s additional donors gave $500 or less. The funds were spent mostly on printing costs, but also billboard signage and ads.
The pro-cityhood movement, however, received much larger donations from individuals. Its largest backer was real estate developer Owen Brown, owner and president of east Cobb-based Retail Planning Corporation, who gave $20,000.
Private investor Jeff Joyce donated $10,000. So did Kevin Nolan, founder of Nolan Transportation Group, and David Oyler, CEO of Trifecta Capital Management.
Construction executive Trey Sanders, of Brasfield & Gorrie, gave $7,500.
Darren DeVore, a private equity investor and venture capitalist, gave $5,000. So did Christopher Riley, a commercial real estate executive with CBRE Group.
Former state Rep. Matt Dollar, who shepherded the cityhood bill through the Gold Dome, gave $500. Cityhood committee member Sarah Haas gave $2,500.
Many other backers gave comparably smaller sums, such as donations of $1,000 or $500.
As for the committee’s expenses, the lion’s share — nearly $34,500 — went to political consultants New Prospect Strategies. The committee also spent more than $15,000 on billboard ads.
About $4,800 in funds went to committee member Cindy Cooperman, and about $2,600 went to Haas, reimbursing them for services and expenses such as marketing, website, email and events.
