by Ty Tagami | Jul 15, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines has paid the federal government $8.1 million to settle claims that it misused a portion of the $11.9 billion in taxpayer dollars it received as emergency aid during the pandemic, according to the Justice Department.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia investigated after a whistleblower alleged Delta had violated executive pay limits connected with the federal funding, $8.2 billion of it in the form of grants that didn’t have to be repaid.
A $425,000 cap on executive pay was supposed to be in effect between March 2020 and April 2023. Federal attorneys concluded Delta had paid some executives more than that, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday, adding that Delta then allegedly falsely certified its compliance with the caps and failed to notify the Treasury Department of its breach of the agreement.
If true, this would have been a violation of the rules of the Payroll Support Program established by Congress under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Delta’s payment settled the allegations without determining liability, prosecutors said, noting that the whistleblower got a cut of the settlement money.
Still, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg suggested the company misused public dollars.
“When companies accept federal assistance, especially generous pandemic-relief funds like those at issue here, they owe a duty to the American people to respect the conditions placed on those funds,” Hertzberg said. “We will continue to enforce all available laws to punish the misuse of taxpayers’ money.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 15, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia’s top elected education official will face a third challenger in next year’s Republican primary election when he seeks a fourth term.
In early June, State School Superintendent Richard Woods announced he was seeking re-election as two others were contesting the seat. Now, Fred “Bubba” Longgrear, the superintendent of the Candler County School District, has entered the race.
Longgrear is the only local public school employee in the running. Randell E. Trammel, who lives in Cartersville and is CEO of the Center for Civic Engagement, announced his candidacy in June, nearly a year after Nelva M. Lee, a Locust Grove entrepreneur whom Gov. Brian Kemp had appointed to a two-year term on the state Board of Community Health in 2021.
Woods previously worked as a local educator but has led the state superintendent’s office since 2015.
Longgrear touts his experience as a teacher, coach and principal, plus 11 years as a superintendent, currently for the 2,000 students in Candler County, straddling I-16 between Macon and Savannah. His campaign website emphasizes safe learning environments, literacy and career development.
by Ty Tagami | Jul 14, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The campaigns of the two announced Republicans for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Ossoff are disclosing similar amounts of outside campaign money raised.
The unofficial reports from the two GOP candidates, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons, and John King, Georgia’s elected insurance and safety fire commissioner, had Carter slightly ahead of King in drawing money from donors. But both of their campaign accounts were dwarfed by incumbent Ossoff, the most prodigious fundraiser in the Senate.
Ossoff’s campaign announced raising more than $10 million over the three months from April through June, ending the second quarter with $15.5 million in the bank.
The Federal Election Commission filing deadline is not until Tuesday, but a source close to the Carter campaign said the congressman will be reporting that he raised $1.1 million from donors and loaned himself another $2 million.
King’s campaign said he had raised $518,000 plus another $150,000 for his political action committee, or PAC. King also reportedly rolled another $350,000 from his state election campaign funds into that PAC, bringing his total haul to about $1 million.
Carter and King will spend some of their money battling each other for the Republican nomination, but so far Ossoff has drawn no Democratic challengers and can continue amassing his war chest for the 2026 general election.
by Ty Tagami | Jul 14, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The public reaction to the meltdown of a financial institution connected to Republican politics in Georgia continued Monday as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called on campaign finance recipients to return any contributions from First Liberty Building and Loan or the family that controlled it.
“Now is the time for every elected official, candidate, or political action committee who received financial support from this entity currently under investigation to stand up and help the victims,” Raffensperger said. “Ill-gotten gains do not belong in the State Capitol.”
The federal Securities and Exchange Commission sued the institution last week alleging it had operated as a Ponzi scheme, bilking investors.
The complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia said Edwin Brant Frost IV, owner and president of First Liberty, used investor funds to make more than $570,000 in political donations.
The company raised at least $140 million from about 300 investors, telling them that their money would go toward short-term, high-interest, small business loans, the lawsuit said. Frost, who is also a named defendant, misrepresented the success of the loan program to his investors, the suit said, noting that he also used their money to pay himself and his family at least $5 million.
Frost’s son, Brant Frost V, is chairman of the Coweta County Republican Party.
“We take allegations of financial fraud seriously, especially when it puts hardworking Georgians at risk,” Raffensperger said, urging anyone who lost money in a transaction with First Liberty to contact his office immediately. “If you believe you’ve been misled or victimized by First Liberty, we need to hear from you.”
by Ty Tagami | Jul 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — People who want to influence Georgia’s next elections have already poured millions of dollars into the 2026 governor’s race and other statewide campaigns.
Campaign finance reports filed by the midnight deadline Tuesday show Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr had each attracted about $3 million from donors for their respective gubernatorial campaigns for the first half of the year.
However, Jones exploited a 2021 state law to bolster his campaign by another $10 million. That boost from his own pocket to his WBJ Leadership Committee — he is an executive in a family-owned oil company — put him far ahead of Carr, not to mention the Democrats in contention.
The Republican-sponsored law allows Georgia’s governor and lieutenant governor to raise unlimited sums in leadership committees. Only a handful of others, including leading lawmakers from both parties and the winners of the gubernatorial and lieutenant governor primaries, enjoy the same advantage.
On the Democratic side, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and state Sen. Jason Esteves, a former member of the Atlanta school board, had each raised just more than $1 million. State Rep. Derrick Jackson from Tyrone raised less than a tenth as much.
Carr’s decision to run for governor has led two Republican state senators to contest his seat. Bill Cowsert from Athens and Brian Strickland from McDonough had each raised about half a million dollars. Cowsert brought in about $100,000 more than Strickland, netting $531,000. No Democrat reported raising money for that race.
Jones’ bid for governor has led four state senators to raise money to campaign for lieutenant governor. As in the governor’s contest, Republicans held a commanding lead.
Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican who recently stepped down as the Senate’s majority leader, raised $1 million. John F. Kennedy of Macon, who outranked Gooch as the Senate’s president pro tempore until he also stepped down, raised $819,000. And Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, gathered $759,000.
Tillery has not yet formally announced his bid for lieutenant governor, but his campaign said that will happen in the coming weeks.
The only Democrat to raise six figures for the lieutenant governor’s contest was Sen. Josh McLaurin of Sandy Springs, who drew $118,000 in contributions.
