ATLANTA — Two political organizations with ties to prominent or noteworthy Georgia Republican Party members face accusations of violating campaign laws by the Georgia Ethics Commission.
The Georgia Republican Assembly, Inc. and Georgia Republican Assembly PAC are accused of violating state laws by failing to register as an independent political committee.
The Georgia Ethics Commission said GRA and GRA-PAC committed 50 violations from the end of 2020 to the middle of 2025.
Among the party members associated with the groups are former Coweta County GOP Chairman Brant Frost V, state Sens. Colton Moore and Shawn Still, among others.
The commission cited its recent finding of violations by the New Georgia Project as a precedent for the case against GRA and GRA-PAC.
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The Stacey Abrams-associated voting rights group was fined $300,000 in January for campaign violations and the group announced it was shutting down in October.
GRA and GRA-PAC are also accused of failing to file disclosure reports with the state more than a dozen times.
For GRA and GRA-PAC, the ethics commission said it found $184,428.97 in various campaign expenses not reported or itemized, which is required by law.
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The expense violations make up more than half of the violations noted by state investigators, for a total of 34 individual violations for the payments.
Brant Frost V, who at one point was the vice president of the organization, is a co-founder of First Liberty Building and Loan in Newnan, a conservative-leaning lender under state and federal investigation.
First Liberty is accused of misleading its investors and using their funds to make illegal political contributions.
Frost’s “bio was scrubbed from the GRA website and obtained via archives,” according to state officials.
The Georgia Ethics Commission began investigating GRA-PAC in July after state and federal investigations of First Liberty were made public.
Various Republican groups and political figures in Georgia returned funds donated to their campaigns, including the Georgia Republican Party.
State investigators noted a change on GRA online materials in the wake of the First Liberty investigation. The GRA site changed to say it does not have a political action committee, instead saying that “Formerly we had certain colleagues who borrowed our name to setup a PAC in order to help our endorsed candidates.
“However that entity was a separate legal and financial organization with no oversight from the GRA and which did not provide any funding to the GRA.”
Previously, GRA referred to GRA-PAC as “our PAC,” the state investigation found. The state also showed examples of how the GRA-PAC website “predominantly promotes GRA” in its materials.
Visually, logos for both GRA and GRA-PAC were nearly identical as well.
The ethics commission also said GRA and GRA-PAC gave “false exculpatory statements” amid the state and federal Ponzi scheme investigations of the Frost family and First Liberty.
“GRA-PAC suddenly becomes the ‘Frost Family PAC’ amid Ponzi scheme state and federal investigations,” the state wrote in a presentation. “See GRA Bylaws requiring return of GRA property upon leaving membership” and “Brant Frost V lacking unilateral authority to dispose of GRA-PAC funds.”
Leaders of the GRA were accused by state investigators of having “knowledge of falsity” in the investigation as well.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to representatives of GRA and GRA-PAC for comment.
The organization’s representatives shared an extensive statement published following a Dec. 4 hearing, which said in part
“There is no mention of the GRA-PAC in GRA Bylaws,” Attorney Catherine Bernard is quoted as saying at the hearing. “There was no actual authority for GRA, Inc. or any of its officers to direct the activities of GRA PAC – that would be the necessary finding in order for there to be reasonable grounds to proceed against the GRA, Inc. as an organization. There was no possession of authority to direct.”
More broadly, GRA said the commission unjustly found grounds to hold GRA responsible for Frost V’s alleged failures to file campaign finance reports required by law and referred to the process as political harassment.
As far as the Frost family’s involvement and Frost V’s leadership position, GRA President Nathaniel Darnell said in a statement that “The entire time the Frosts ran the PAC, they insisted to us that since they gave the most money to the PAC, they had the controlling interest over the PAC’s decisions. We were not given any opportunity to override them.”
The Georgia Ethics Commission has 30 days to refer the case to the Office of State Administrative Hearings for further proceedings.
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