A political action committee that is part of a network launched by failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams pushed $1.2 million over to a separate but affiliated dark money entity that plans to ramp up 2020 voter efforts in swing states, Federal Election Commission filings show.
The Fair Fight PAC, a state PAC in Georgia that was established on the federal level in January by Camille Johnson, a longtime friend of Abrams’s, reported $4 million in receipts in its first filings to the FEC. A large portion of the PAC’s receipts came from Karla Jurvetson, a California-based physician, political organizer, and progressive mega-donor, who on Jan. 18 sent $1,028,160 to its non-contribution account.
Abrams established the Voter Access Initiative, a 501(c)(4) “dark money” advocacy nonprofit, in 2014 to focus on voting rights in Georgia. The Daily Beast reported in January that last year the Voter Access Initiative changed its name to Fair Fight Action while altering its bylaws in a manner that could allow it to step up its political activities. A source with knowledge of the group’s operations told the publication at the time that the nonprofit had no plans to subsidize its political arm despite the change in its bylaws. Abrams ran the group until December.
While the nonprofit is not subsidizing the PAC, it appears the PAC is subsidizing Abrams’s dark money group.
The Fair Fight PAC’s largest disbursements throughout the first half of the year went to Fair Fight Action, its filings show. Between Feb. 1 and June 4, the PAC made six contributions to the dark money group totaling $1,263,860. The amount sent from the PAC to the nonprofit accounts for more than 40 percent of its $2.9 million in total disbursements throughout the first half of the year. – READ MORE