13 lawmakers named in ethics complaints

ATLANTA — The Georgia ethics commission announced Thursday it filed complaints against 13 lawmakers for campaign finance law violations — including not disclosing donations.

Complaints allege some of the lawmakers failed to file campaign disclosures on time, or not at all.

Legislators who received complaints were: Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon; Sen. Sheikh Rahman, D-Lawrenceville; Sen. Horacena Tate, D-Atlanta; Rep. Dexter Sharper, D-Valdosta; Rep. James Burchett, R-Waycross; Rep. Steven Sainz, R-Woodbine; Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero, D-Norcross; Rep. Winfred Dukes, D-Albany; Rep. Vernon Jones, D-Lithonia; Rep. Mickey Stephens, D-Savannah; Rep. Pat Gardner, D-Atlanta; Rep. Colton Moore, R-Trenton.

Other complaints outline lawmakers filing reports saying they received or spent no money, took contributions during the legislative session or took donations exceeding legal limits.

One complaint was withheld from CNHI’s public records request because the lawmaker has not yet been served with the documents.

Sainz and Gardener both admitted filing errors in their responses to the committee, detailing that incorrect boxes had been checked.

“The mistakes were due to errors such as checking the wrong box and not in the correct time period…” Gardener wrote in her response to the committee. “I thought all my disclosures had been filed in the right time period but apparently there were some bookkeeping errors.”

In a handwritten letter to the committee dated Aug. 30, Sharper denies any unreported campaign contributions — or any contributions at all.

“As a Democrat in Georgia lobbyists don’t really contribute as much to me,” he wrote. “Also I am not on committees that are very active so there are less contributions.”

In a letter dated Sept. 18, Moore said that he did not accept contributions or have expenditures in the period ending on June 30. However, he admitted his report filed on Jan 31 was incorrect and submitted an updated report with missing contributions and expenditures.

Jones paid a late fee and updated his disclosure report.

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