Thomas Accused of Hiding Thousands in Violation of State Campaign Finance Laws
For Immediate Release
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JASON SHEPHERD
CHAIRMAN
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Phone: 770.265.5268
Email address: Chair@CobbGOP.org
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Ethics Complaint Filed Against Democratic State House Leader Erica Thomas (D-39)
Thomas Accused of Hiding Thousands in Campaign Donations and Expenditures from Voters in Violation of State Campaign Finance Laws
(MARIETTA, GA) - The Cobb County Republican Party has filed an ethics complaint against State Representative Erica Thomas (D-39) for allegedly failing to file multiple campaign finance reports in the 2018 election year nor disclosing any contributions or expenditures in the reports she has filed in 2019.
According to campaign finance records publicly available on www.ethics.ga.gov, the website for the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, Rep. Erica Thomas, the Democratic House Caucus Vice-Chair, failed to file her campaign finance disclosures for June, September, October, and December 2018. Furthermore, while her March 2018 campaign disclosures show that Thomas had over $13,000 in her campaign war chest, her next filed report in January 2019 shows no funds in her account, but no campaign expenditures either. The complaint (1) can be viewed below.
"It is quite shocking," said Jason Shepherd, Chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, "that a leader of the Democratic Caucus would be able to get away with simply refusing to disclose from who she was receiving money and where she was spending it."
Thomas's January 2019 and June 2019 disclose also fails to report any expenditures or contributions in the first half of 2019, despite the fact that Thomas advertised a joint fundraiser with House Minority Whip William Boddie on January 10, 2019, just before the start of the 2019 Legislative Session where Thomas asked donors to contribute up to $2,600 to host and at least $101 to attend (2).
Thomas came to national attention in July 2019 after an incident at a Publix supermarket where she claimed a "white man" told her to "go back where [she] came from."
Almost immediately after posting her false accusation, Thomas sent out a fundraising email to profit from the made-up incident (3).
The man she accused turned out to be an Hispanic Cuban American and, after a police investigation, witnesses turned the tables on Thomas telling the authorities that it was Thomas who told the man to go back to where he came from.
"The same Erica Thomas who falsely accused one of her constituents, who was not only a fellow Democrat, but an Hispanic American of racism, is also the same Erica Thomas who has worked to hide who is backing her campaign," added Shepherd. "It's time Erica Thomas stopped her deceptions and filed the same disclosures every other elected official is required to file."
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