“Illegal Coordination” Georgia GOP Sues Democrat Candidate

Calling out “Illegal Coordination” Georgia GOP’s Executive Director Stewart Bragg sues Democrat candidate Jon Ossoff and The Georgia Way a Chuck Schumer affiliated Super-PAC. According to the RFAngle the lawsuit charges that,

“the two entities violated federal election law by coordinating on campaign advertising. If the suit proves successful, it would mean that Schumer’s Super PAC, The Georgia Way, made a $690,000 in-kind contribution to Ossoff’s campaign, which is illegal under federal election law.”

What is “Illegal Coordination”

FEC.gov sets the legal standard of “Coordination”,

“FEC regulations provide for a three-pronged test to determine whether a communication is coordinated. A communication must satisfy all three prongs of the test to be considered a coordinated communication (and as a result, count against contribution limits).

The three prongs of the test consider:

1. The source of payment (payment prong)-The payment prong is satisfied when a coordinated communication is paid for, in whole or in part, by a person other than the candidate, an authorized committee or a political party committee with whom the communication is coordinated.
2. The subject matter of the communication (content prong)
   1. 1. A communication that is an electioneering communication;
      2. A public communication that republishes, disseminates or distributes candidate campaign materials unless the activity meets one of the exceptions at 11 CFR 109.23(b);
      3. A public communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for federal office;
      4. A public communication that is the functional equivalent of express advocacy; or
      5. A public communication that:
      • Refers to a clearly identified House or Senate candidate and is publicly distributed in the identified candidate’s jurisdiction within 90 days of the candidate’s primary or general election;
      • Refers to a political party (but not a candidate) in a presidential election cycle, is coordinated with a party committee and is publicly distributed during the period starting 120 days before the primary in that jurisdiction and ending on the date of the general election
      • Refers to a political party (but not a candidate), is coordinated with a House or Senate candidate and is publicly distributed in that candidate’s jurisdiction within 90 days of the primary or general election; or
      • Refers to a political party (but not a candidate), is coordinated with a presidential candidate and is publicly distributed during the period starting 120 days before the primary until the date of the general election.
3. The interaction between the person paying for the communication and the candidate or political party committee (conduct prong)-The purpose of the conduct prong is to determine when interaction between the campaign and the person paying for the communication might constitute coordination. A communication that satisfies any one of the conduct standards described in this section satisfies the conduct prong.

When the payment prong, the content prong and the conduct prong are all satisfied, then the communication is a coordinated communication and results in an in-kind contribution.”

What does the Georgia Lawsuit claim?

Breitbart elaborated that the pending lawsuit claims, “The Georgia Way’s advertisement and Jon Ossoff for Senate’s update are coordinated political attacks — same message, same mission to drag down Senator Perdue,” the Georgia GOP suit claims. “This advertisement by The Georgia Way is the only known advertisement to date that it has published, and the publication thereof is in direct coordination with Jon Ossoff for Senate.”

“We’ve asked the FEC [Federal Election Commission] to look into possible coordination between a Chuck Schumer-affiliated Super PAC and Jon Ossoff’s campaign,” Bragg said. “Candidates campaign how they intend to govern, and Georgians deserve to know if Jon Ossoff and his campaign have broken the law.”

12.6 FEC Complaint – GAGOP … by Breitbart News

Those Georgia Blues

This is yet another shattering blow to the public’s confidence in Georgia’s election processes. Just last week it was revealed that Democrats secretly signed a secret “Consent Agreement” back in March to “alter absentee ballot procedures.” fundamentally changing the rules for the 2020 Election. Jon Ossoff, also made headlines by failing to disclose significant financial ties to China in his initial FEC report, only to ‘quietly’ do so much later.

Jon @Ossoff did business with a company owned by the communist Chinese Government and then tried to hide it from Georgia voters.

Georgians can’t trust him to hold China accountable. #GAsen #gapol pic.twitter.com/wrfuDDYLjk

— David Perdue (@Perduesenate) November 16, 2020