Finance
GOP Labor Commissioner candidate Bruce Thompson faces campaign finance complaint
GOP Labor Commissioner candidate faces marketing campaign finance grievance
Bruce Thompson, who’s vying to be the Republican candidate for Georgia Labor Commissioner is dealing with a marketing campaign finance grievance.
ATLANTA – A Buford, Georgia lady has filed a marketing campaign finance grievance accusing Republican Labor Commissioner candidate Bruce Thompson of violating Georgia marketing campaign finance legal guidelines.
The FOX 5 I-Group examined the allegations and located Thompson spent some $35,000 from his outdated state Senate marketing campaign for his present Labor Commissioner race.
Jeri Tyler has two loves: boarding and feeding her present horses and reminiscing concerning the former horse races she adopted, political horse races.
“I had a newspaper, and I used to be round politics loads,” stated Tyler
Tyler was the guts and soul of the Hog Mountain Herald till 1996.
Reporter: “You have been editor, writer and proprietor?”
Tyler: “Yup.”
Reporter: So, at coronary heart you’re a journalist?”
Tyler: “”Yup.”
The previous journalist is now stepping again into the political sport she so loves.
Tyler has filed a marketing campaign finance grievance towards a statewide candidate operating for Georgia Labor Commissioner, Bruce Thompson.
“I’m hoping the voters could have an opportunity to see what sort of particular person he’s,” Tyler stated.
Thompson has been a Republican State Senator out of White, Georgia since 2013. However, when Labor Commissioner Mark Butler introduced he was retiring, Thompson determined to run for his seat.
The I-Group first reported on then State Senator Thompson through the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2020, Senator Thompson posted an image on Fb, telling individuals he’d been rushed to an intensive care unit with respiratory failure.
He stated he was identified with COVID-19.
Thompson promised, on Fb, on March 22, to “stay at dwelling in self-quarantine for the speedy future.”
Then Thompson drove to his seaside home on St. George Island, off the coast of Florida. Thompson informed individuals on Fb he had a clear invoice of well being.
“The audacity of a person, who had this illness just a few days in the past, and got here right into a group that has been virus-free is irresponsible. I am simply past phrases,” Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith stated.
An outraged Florida sheriff, A.J. Smith, stated he would submit a deputy outdoors Thompson’s seaside home to maintain him inside and shield the local people.
Thompson determined to come back dwelling and by no means answered the FOX 5 I-Group’s questions concerning the incident.
Now, Thompson faces criticism about how he’s paying for his race for Georgia Labor Commissioner. Information which can be simply discovered on the marketing campaign finance web site.
“If you recognize the place to look it pops proper up. Anyone may discover it. Not simply me. Anyone who desires to take the effort and time may do that,” Tyler stated.
Jeri Tyler’s grievance alleges Thompson has illegally used donations from his state Senate marketing campaign for his labor commissioner race.
The legislation appears fairly clear. A candidate can solely use contributions for “that elected workplace for which these contributions have been acquired”
In different phrases, Thompson cannot take cash individuals gave him for his state senate marketing campaign and use it to run for labor commissioner.
“It seems clear the statute states one factor, and he’s doing one other,” stated Dr. Adrienne Jones.
Jones is an assistant professor of political science at Morehouse Faculty. FOX 5 requested her to assessment the grievance. She stated it seems Thompson is violating the statute. She worries concerning the huge quantities of cash it takes to run campaigns within the fashionable political world, nonetheless.
“For an workplace like labor commissioner, or any elected workplace, what persons are searching for is somebody who’s going to abide by the legislation. If it’s a violation of the principles, it’s a violation which suggests he both doesn’t know the legislation or is ignoring it consciously,” stated Jones.
When the I-Group reviewed Thompson’s marketing campaign disclosures, it seems like he spent some $35,000 from his Senate account to pay three totally different individuals to work on his labor commissioner race.
“The purpose of the Labor Commissioner is to verify Georgians are employed, so you don’t need somebody who is not trustworthy with cash, is not trustworthy in their very own enterprise,” stated Jones.
Thompson didn’t wish to do an interview however despatched FOX 5 an announcement calling the grievance a “baseless, final minute assault by a determined opponent who has led essentially the most ethically challenged and scandal plagued company in Georgia.”
When the I-Group wrote again asking point-blank why he used Senate marketing campaign funds to pay for individuals engaged on his labor commissioner race, he referred it to his lawyer.
Jeri Tyler has a “Mike Coan for Labor Commissioner” register her entrance yard. He was deputy labor commissioner beneath Mark Butler and took a go away of absence to run for the job.
She stated she filed the grievance as a result of individuals in excessive locations must observe the legislation.
Reporter: “Did you file this for him. Did you file this on his behalf?”
Tyler: “Probably not. Probably not. I’m doing this as a result of I’m prepared for our authorities to be clear.”
FOX 5 by no means heard from Thompson’s lawyer. Republican candidate Mike Coan wrote FOX 5 to say he is calling on Bruce Thompson to return the contributions he used from his Senate account to their rightful donors and take duty for his misuse of marketing campaign funds.