A state administrative law judge ruled that Fulton County Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman violated campaign finance law, failing to properly report campaign donations and expenditures.
The judge, Stephanie M. Howells, ordered Abdur-Rahman, who has served as vice-chair of the Fulton Board of Commissioners for the past year, to pay a $17,250 fine. The decision was filed in September with Georgia’s Office of State Administrative Hearings.
In the decision, Howells cited expenditures in Abdur-Rahman’s campaign account that “implicate misuse of campaign funds” and concluded that it apparently was being used “as a personal account.”
Abdur-Rahman’s attorney, Mark Shelnutt of Columbus, characterized Abdur-Rahman’s mistakes as honest and said they largely involved missed financial reporting deadlines. He explained that she had been inexperienced in politics and overwhelmed with trying to fund her own political campaigns.
“When she first started out in 2019, she didn’t have any staff or budget,” Shelnutt said. “Being fully abreast of all the campaign disclosure rules, and all that, is harder than it looks. She was working with little money and no financial assistance or financial backing. She just launched her campaign.”