Democratic candidate for Georgia Governor Keisha Lance Bottoms recently unveiled her six-point ethics platform designed to prevent “insiders” from hurting Georgians and using taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves.
Curiously, the platform does not address any of Bottoms’ ethical breaches.
What are the points of this new platform? If elected governor, Bottoms would first prevent future governors from profiting from state contracts. This would also require them to divest from companies doing business with the state.
The third point involves closing the “Jackson loophole” and strengthening competitive bidding. The fourth point is the modernization of Georgia’s Open Checkbook so that taxpayers can easily track how their money is spent.
The final two points involve putting the state procurement process online for Georgians to see and bringing greater transparency to the General Assembly.
What does this platform fail to condemn? In 2021, Bottoms paid a $37,000 state ethics fine for her 2017 mayoral race, including $6,900 in over-the-limit contributions and $110,797 above the debt limit.
Her campaign refused to turn over subpoenaed bank records, and the ethics commission's executive director stated this was done "despite her public statements that she would provide all documents and be fully transparent."
Atlanta taxpayers also covered $2,610 in first-class airfare for her husband to the Super Bowl, and more than $11,600 in luxury car service across five months.
During her 2017 mayoral run, Bottoms took $187,000 from parties interested in airport concessions contracts and was the only candidate to back fast-tracking those deals.
What the Rick Jackson campaign had to say:
Garrison Douglas, the Spokesman for the Rick Jackson Campaign, commented on this six-point ethics platform, casting doubt on its authenticity. He stated:
- "Georgians have seen this show before: Keisha Lance Bottoms makes a pledge to run an ethical and honest administration and then, once elected, runs straight towards corruption. There’s no better evidence that she remains unserious about addressing ethics than leaving the Keisha Loophole wide open, but Georgians will close it this November.”
