Earlier this week, Politico’s Brittany Gibson reported that almost $10 million of the $25 million that Stacey Abrams’ “voting rights organization” Fair Fight Action spent on legal fees over a two-year period went to a boutique law firm that belongs to Abrams’ close friend and campaign chair Allegra Lawrence-Hardy.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Team Abrams would be upset about a story like that coming out, especially just two weeks before the election where Abrams is already all but guaranteed to go down in flames. But there’s definitely still an element of surprise as far as the saga is concerned.
Check out this thread from ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger:
Here's something quite bizarre. I'm not sure I've ever seen something quite like it.
On Monday, @brittanyagibson wrote a very good story examining Stacey Abrams' troubling financial relationship with a law firm run by a buddy and campaign chair.https://t.co/lBcdtFGuIA
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
The problem the story laid out was that the law firm was charging what experts say was exorbitant amounts of money for its work: Almost $10mln of $25mln over two years for a tiny firm, more than $200K per employees, it seems.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
The article quoted ethics experts, including Craig Holman of @Public_Citizen. pic.twitter.com/bEJz0kLZDY
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
Who is Holman? Well, he's a dean of the DC Ethics Club. And that's a *really* small club. He's been doing this for years. Think of how thankless that job is. Low pay, skunk at every dinner party, no lavish fetes with donors & lobbyists.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
The next day, @Public_Citizen *retracts* Holman's quote!
I think I've never seen a retracted quote.https://t.co/9u3EXen972
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
Did you get that? Public Citizen didn’t dispute a quote; they retracted a quote.
From Public Citizen’s statement:
The story quotes a Public Citizen staff member suggesting that a contractual arrangement between Fair Fight and outside counsel poses a conflict of interest.
However, we have now reviewed the full story presented in the Politico article. Based on the information in the story, our organizational conclusion is that there is no conflict of interest or any problem at all.
…
Fair Fight Action has done heroic work protecting and advancing the freedom to vote in Georgia and across the country. We are proud to partner with them. That said, we have a record of criticizing allies for improper conflicts of interest. We would not retract a public statement about an ally that we believe to be true. We are retracting the quote regarding Fair Fight Action solely because it does not reflect our organizational viewpoint and conclusion.
Dude.
This is extremely strange. Holman isn't quoted. No one is. It's some kind of institutional statement.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
What's more, it's obtuse. It doesn't mention that Abrams' buddy charged what appears to be too much money! (Of course it can be ok to hire a highly qualified friend tho it can give rise to an appearance of a conflict. But the issue that makes it troubling is the large sum of $$.)
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
What's even stranger is that Public Citizen, a decades-long arbiter of good govt and ethics, says this: "Our organizational conclusion is that there is no conflict of interest or any problem at all."
No problem *at all*? How can they know that?
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
They can’t know that. And they know they can’t know it.
So what happened? I don't know. I don't have all the facts. But it sure looks like Public Citizen's bosses threw a longtime employee under the bus.
— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) October 26, 2022
Sure looks like that’s what they did.
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585290787616538624
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585291808430788609
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585292730816598016
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585293057829871616
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585297671564439552
Woof, this looks terrible for @Public_Citizen https://t.co/XuQhPqjlnB
— Arthur Boreman Once Held His Breath for 30 Seconds (@ArthurBoreman) October 26, 2022
Not a great look for Stacey Abrams’ campaign, either. Or for the Democrats in general, really.
https://twitter.com/ZaidJilani/status/1585298584739934208
Pressure from Team Abrams? But Stacey Abrams is so ethical! Internal turmoil? But Stacey Abrams is so calm and levelheaded! /s
Ten bucks says someone got a call from a rather unhappy Abrams world.
Ask just about any reporter who has objectively covered the Abrams camp for any length of time. *Any* criticism – especially from Dems – is treated as heresy and the offender is ostracized. #gapol https://t.co/auBSfFss3w
— Cody Hall (@CodyHallGA) October 26, 2022
Stacey Abrams is nothing if not an insecure thug when push comes to shove. And she’s demonstrated that she’s more than willing to push and shove her way to the top of the garbage heap.
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