As the governor’s race between Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp continues soaking up a lot of the attention – breaking fundraising records in the process – the lieutenant governor’s race is not going to let them hog the mud. They may have lower budgets but Geoff Duncan and David Shafer have moved past the niceties and are pulling out all the stops to edge it out on July 24.
It started right after qualifying when Shafer was accused of sexual harassment during his time as a state senator at the capitol. Shafer was ultimately cleared via an investigation from the Georgia Senate Ethics Committee. State Sen. Dean Burke (R-11 Bainbridge) sent a letter to Shafer with their findings: “Based on the findings of fact reported by the independent counsel, the committee found that there is a lack of credible evidence to support the allegations in the complaint. Further, the evidence contradicted the essential elements of the complaint.”
Shafer noted at the time that the complaint seemed politically motivated, based on the timing coming the day after qualifying.
It has only gone downhill from there.
The Duncan campaign, or its supporters, have continued to bring up the allegations. Mailers that have gone out in the past month called into question Shafer’s business background, calling him “Shady Shafer,” and said he was “Everything that’s wrong with politics today.” They also said he was “accused of conspiracy in CEO’s ouster” – the only problem being that this story actually refers to former gubernatorial candidate Clay Tippins. The mailers in question were paid for by a group called the Hometown Freedom Action Network.
The D.C.-based Super PAC is run by Tom Norris, which is largely funded by two other groups. One of those is the Super PAC Citizens for a Working America, run by Joel Riter – who cut his teeth as a former aide to former Ohio treasurer Josh Mandel and was an unsuccessful Senate candidate in 2012. The other is the American Policy Coalition. That one was established in Kentucky in 2011 and is a nonprofit corporation. The only item on their website is a video about supporting the Export-Import Bank – it’s not even clear when the video was made and to which president or congress it was aimed.
Assuming there really is no coordination, as the law requires, between the Duncan campaign and the Hometown Freedom Action Network, one thing that is definitely shady is why they care so much about the race and where the funding is coming from. The way super PACs work, and the way the law allows – for good or ill, is that going digging into their backgrounds quickly turns into a maze of funneled money and anonymous donations.
The Duncan campaign has remained quiet about the allegations in the ads and did not respond to IAG when asked for comment about the mailers or the latest response from the Shafer campaign. On Tuesday, the Shafer campaign unveiled a new website – “Deceptive Duncan” – which goes into detail from their side refuting the allegations. And there’s no beating around the bush here. The “L”-word, liar, is often shied away from in political circles – “falsely claimed” or “stretched the truth” or some other euphemism – but the site does not abide by this rule.
State senator and former Secretary of State candidate Josh McKoon has gotten on board with the Shafer campaign in a serious way because of his shock at what he feels are unfair allegations. McKoon called it “a disgusting smear campaign against my friend David Shafer being funded by cowards who don’t have the courage to stand by the defamatory and false charges.” McKoon has been traveling the state as part of the Shafer campaign and is very vocal in his support. He has remained mum in the Secretary of State runoff – which he didn’t make – but he may make a difference in this one.
