Atlanta Unfiltered

Oct. 30, 2016 — Jones’s campaign has raised $7,000 in political donations and, at last report, had just $1,201 in the bank.

Oct. 30, 2016 — Kimberly Alexander has raised a modest $40,000 for her four legislative races. Her top donors represent standard Democratic interests — trial lawyers, educators and unions.

Oct. 30, 2016 — Bruce Emory has self-financed his entire campaign so far in 2016, according to his financial disclosures. Through Oct. 25, he’d spent about $6,500 of personal funds on the race and reported no outside donors.

Oct. 28, 2016 — When state regulators told Clay Cox in 2009 that his business wasn’t following the rules, he didn’t give up. He just tried to change the rules.

Cox, CEO of Professional Probation Services, sponsored a bill to defang the state agency overseeing companies, like his, that manage misdemeanor probation in city and county courts across Georgia.

Cox insisted the measures posed no conflict and wouldn’t help the company “in the slightest.” State records, though, show Cox’s company was in a dispute with the council over the very issues that his bill addressed.

Radjabov, a Soviet emigre making his first run for elected office, ran a largely self-financed campaign. He raised $11,000 through Oct. 25 while one of his businesses, RH Care in Sparta, Tenn., loaned it more than $75,000.

Oct. 25, 2016 — Erick Allen, a former administrator at the state Department of Behavioral Health, has raised more than $62,000 for two legislative races. His top donors include two unions — the Teamsters and the Electrical Workers — as well as current and former Democratic elected officials.

Oct. 25, 2016 — As regional counsel for Allstate, Rich Golick knows insurance. And, campaign finance records show, Big Insurance knows him. Since Golick’s first run for office in 1998, insurance interests have chipped in more than $376,000 — roughly one-third of all his political donations — to elect and keep him in office. Top donors include Allstate (of course), State Farm, GEICO, the American Insurance Association and BlueCross BlueShield.

Oct. 23, 2016 — Taylor Bennett’s biggest donors have been traditional Democratic allies — trial lawyers and unions. He’s also collected more than $14,000 from other Democratic legislators.

Oct. 23, 2016 — Hanson has reported making about $3,200 in loans to her campaign that — because of specific amounts such as $490.66 and $397.22 — appear instead to be in-kind expenditures. If they are, the campaign should report the purpose and end recipient of the spending, as required by state law.

Oct. 23, 2016 — Ex-Rep. Tonya Anderson plunked down the $400 qualifying fee for her 2016  Senate race in March, but she didn’t file the campaign disclosure that was due a couple weeks later. Not until July 5, that is — after Atlanta Unfiltered had called her twice to ask where it was.

With the late filing, Anderson had accrued $1,250 in unpaid late fees, according to the state ethics commission. All have now been paid.

Oct. 23, 2016 — JaNice VanNess’s father and his business have given $14,500 to her campaigns since 2010. One donation, though, may not have been strictly legal. The business gave her $2,500 in July 2014 for the primary election held two months earlier. In Georgia, candidates may only accept donations for an election after the fact if they’re retiring a debt — a restriction that Van Ness said she was unaware of. She returned the money after losing the 2014 general election.

Check out our other politician profiles The information on Atlanta Unfiltered is free to all — except me. Use the Donate button on this page to help produce more articles like this one. Elizabeth Alford Beskin (R-Atlanta) District 54 (Fulton County)   Beth Beskin’s two most generous blocs of donors are the Thomas family, owners […]