(The Center Square) – Georgia’s attorney general has sued the lieutenant governor less than 15 months away from when each of them hopes to be the next Republican governor.
The lone twosome for now in next spring’s primary, Attorney General Chris Carr says in the federal filing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones should not be spending money from a leadership committee. That’s a fundraising tool allowing unlimited money for the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and legislative leaders.
The attorney general is not able to use such a mechanism.
The creation of leadership committees came through a 2021 state law. Carr has a campaign committee with limits of $8,400 from each donor for the primary, and $4,200 for a runoff.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the suit says Jones’ unlimited donations include a $10 million loan.
Relief is sought in the form of keeping Jones from using the leadership committee during the primary; stop him from repaying the $10 million loan with donated funds; full transparency in the committee fundraising and spending since Jones began his campaign; and use of an independent party’s oversight of committee activity.
Carr, a commissioner in the Department of Economic Development from 2013-16, was appointed to his post by former Gov. Nathan Deal in October 2016. He won elections in 2018 and 2022.
Jones was in the state Senate from 2013-23, winning a four-year term in his present role at the 2022 midterms.
