Last month, former Augusta mayor Hardie Davis Jr. was found to have violated Georgia campaign rules and was ordered to pay nearly $17,000 in penalties.
The Office of State Administrative Hearings found Davis:
- Filed his private financial disclosure statements for 2018 and 2019 both too early and too late;
- Filed the required 2018 campaign contribution disclosure report nine days after the grace period;
- Filed two 2020 campaign contribution disclosure reports over a year late and failed to file two 2021 campaign contribution disclosure reports entirely; and,
- Made two nonitemized expenditures on his campaign credit card, totaling more than $2,000.
However, the court found Davis did not violate the act by contributing to the campaign of Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) on Jan. 4, 2021.
Given the multiple violations of the act, Davis was issued several civil penalties, including a $8,200 penalty for the late or missing CCDRs, a $2,400 penalty for failing to disclose individual contributions and expenditures, and a $6,000 penalty for making credit card expenditures to undisclosed recipients for unspecified purposes.