MACON, Ga. — Two Republican state senators have their eyes set on the same seat -- Lieutenant Governor.
State Senator Burt Jones who represents Baldwin, Butts, Putnam and other Central Georgia counties; and state Senator Butch Miller, who represents Hall County, are the two candidates facing off in the Republican primary this May.
In an email to supporters, Miller claimed Jones has ethics complaints filed against him, so we set out to verify how many and for what.
Our sources include David Emadi, the executive director of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, and documents filed with the agency that oversees ethics complaints.
13WMAZ filed a records request with the commission. What we got back was a complaint form from Aug. 26, 2021.
It goes back to a tweet from Senator Burt Jones on July 8, 2021, showing Jones and his family shooting what looks to be a campaign video.
Those same scenes seen in the tweet were featured in a campaign video tweeted on Aug. 10.
The problem? The complaint alleges the campaign video was filmed before Jones filed paperwork required to accept and spend campaign contributions.
"It's a general rule that you can't make expenditures or accept contributions prior to filing a declaration of intent," said Emadi, talking about the law generally.
Jones filed paperwork on Aug. 6, 2021, at least a month after the campaign video was shot.
Emadi says this is the only complaint against Jones and they're still investigating it. So, we can Verify, yes, there is one ethics complaint filed against Jones.
Emadi says there's no complaint filed against Jones' opponent, Butch Miller.
"If a candidate has an ethics complaint filed prior to an election, it really needs to be resolved before the election because voters have the right to know if candidates are following the law or breaking them," said Miller.
So now that a complaint is filed, what's next? There could be a hearing in front of the ethics commission as early as this month.
If someone is found in violation of this campaign law, Emadi says the maximum fine for the first time is $1,000.
13WMAZ requested an interview with Burt Jones on the ethics complaint. A campaign spokesperson sent a statement:
“This is another sad lie and desperate attempt from a career politician and used car salesman. The fact is Butch Miller got caught defrauding the state of Georgia by selling his used cars on state-owned property. Now he’s attacking a Trump-endorsed candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Burt Jones because he’s desperate. The voters of Macon—and Georgia—won’t be fooled by his dishonest tactics.”