Cary Lucas and his campaign have spent over $80k in illegally unreported funds. In addition those illegal funds, he has refused to file personal financial disclosures. Those disclosures are required by law to help prevent fraud and conflict of interest, but Cary has apparently decided to ignore the law. This represents one of the most egregious ethics violations in the state’s modern history. An ethics complaint has been filed and an investigation is ongoing, but voters need to know.
EDIT: After Cary became aware that we were preparing an ethics complaint, he filed SOME of his paperwork. It’s still incomplete, rife with irregularities and violations, and very late. He has not paid his fine or filed his personal financial disclosure.
February 16th: Cary files Declaration of Intent to Fundraise
On February 16th Cary filed a Declaration of Intent (DOI) to run for office. A DOI is required in Georgia before you can raise money for a campaign. It establishes your campaign committee, the treasurer responsible for the committee should it commit an ethics violation, and it requires the candidate to affirm his or her intention to comply with Georgia campaign disclosure requirements. When the DOI is filed, the state ethics commission provides the candidate with the schedule and information required to comply with Georgia election law.
Cary’s filing had some irregularities that make it difficult to ensure there’s no illegal dark money groups spending in this race. He did not name his committee, and he did not list a treasurer. Over the course of April, a series of mailers were sent out attacking Todd. Some of the mailers were sent by “Lucas for Georga” (sic), and some were sent by Friends to Elect Cary Lucas. We believe that Friends to Elect Cary Lucas is Mr. Lucas’ campaign committee, and Lucas for Georga (sic) is an illegal shadow group. Because of Mr. Lucas’s incomplete DOI, it’s hard to know for certain. We know that one of them has to be illegal, because state law limits candidates for State House to one committee.
March: Friends to Elect Cary Lucas Creates Fake Mailer
Most of the mailers were incoherent screenshots from Mr. Lucas’s website, but one in particular was at least coherent enough to convey a message. It included a photoshopped image of Todd’s face in a picture with Joe Biden. The mailer erroneously claimed that Todd Jones gave $250k to Democrats. The picture, and the alleged $250k donation from Todd, never happened. It was all fabricated. That particular mailer was sent by Friends to Elect Cary Lucas.
March 25th: Mr. Lucas Refuses to file Personal Financial Disclosures
Mr. Lucas has repeatedly attacked Todd for his business interests, all of which are reported to the ethics commission. The state of Georgia requires all candidates for office to file paperwork in late March disclosing all of their assets, investments, employers, and business interests. This exists so the ethics commission can monitor and ensure the type of conflicts that Todd is accused of cannot happen. Cary Lucas has refused to file that document. As of 5/16/24, it is over 7 weeks late. Mr. Lucas has apparently decided he would rather pay the hefty fine than allow the ethics commission and the voters to see his conflicts of interest.
March 27th: Ethics Commission Fines Mr. Lucas
Mr. Lucas was fined by the ethics commission for failing to file his personal financial disclosure. As of May 17th at 6pm, he still has not paid the fine. You can check on the state of his fine here. He is currently ineligible for office because this fine remains unpaid, but he can’t be removed from the ballot at this time.
April 30th: Mr. Lucas Refuses to file Campaign Finance Report
On April 30th, every campaign is required to file fundraising and expenditure reports. This disclosure exists for two reasons: to ensure the public knows who funds each candidate, and to ensure candidates aren’t committing fraud and stealing campaign funds for personal use. Mr. Lucas did not file his disclosures. As of 5/15 Mr. Lucas’ had reported $0 in contributions and $0 in expenses for the entire election cycle
May 14th: $42k Xfinity Contracts with Mr. Lucas Discovered
We’ve all seen the fake mailers, received the texts, and seen the illegal signs in the median and right-of-ways around town. It’s pretty obvious Cary is spending money, but there was no way to prove his campaign was spending it, rather than an illegal dark money group. On 5/14/24 we were made aware, through the public filings on the FCC website, that Mr. Lucas had a contract with Xfinity for $42k in TV commercials. This contract requires the candidate to sign a statement affirming that they are abiding by all state and federal election laws. Mr. Lucas clearly lied on that form.
May 16th at 11am: Mr. Lucas files Incomplete and False Campaign Report
On May 15th we sent a letter to Xfinity alerting them to the illegal campaign activity. On 5/16/24 at 11am Mr. Lucas finally filed an incomplete disclosure report. At 11:53am we were forwarded Mr. Lucas’ correspondences with Xfinity, where he said all campaign reports have been filed. (At the time of writing this post, this statement is untrue. He never filed his Personal Financial Disclosure) His incomplete campaign report was clearly filed simply to prevent his ads from being pulled from the air. The incomplete disclosure fails to report $9.5k in contributions, claiming it was an unreported loan he received in January. It was illegal for him to receive a loan before establishing his committee in February, and illegal to fail to report said loan. It appears he was receiving large, illegal, unreported contributions to pay for his consultant. Who’s funding this guy?
He also failed to report the $42k Xfinity contracts, any mailers, texts, facebook ads, merchant fees, or yard signs. In addition to these violations, he reportedly gave himself a $51k loan, and reported his employer as “unknown”. Apparently Cary Lucas is such a shady fellow, he doesn’t even know who’s paying him.
May 16th 3pm: Mr. Lucas Files Amended False Campaign Report
Later in the afternoon, Mr. Lucas filed an amended report attempting to account for the missing $9.5k. This discrepancy was “fixed” by adding two different loans from the candidate, one for $4.5k and one for $5k. The need for this amendment is troubling even on face value, but a closer look at the disclosure raises more red flags. Mr. Lucas reported paying his consultant $5,000 on February 16th, but did not report receiving any funds until February 22nd, when he allegedly loaned himself money. He allegedly spent funds that do not exist. Obviously, that can’t happen. The money does exist, he just doesn’t want to report it to the voters and the ethics commission. That type of dishonesty calls into questions the rest of his report, and his campaign for that matter. Is this the type of “integrity” we want representing us?
May 21st: Voters Send a Message
Mr. Lucas will undoubtedly be hit with countless violations and pay a large fine when this race is over. However, he thinks he can steal this race and just pay the fine afterward. We have NEVER seen such a brazen, illegal strategy in a Georgia House race before. If he gets away with it, will this behavior become normal? The best way to stop it is to send a resounding message at the ballot box on Tuesday; THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
The general public doesn’t often hear about ethics violations. Many times they consist of accounting errors or questionable campaign expenses. Campaigns pour over opponents’ disclosure reports looking for small errors. What they find may constitute an ethics violation, but it’s rarely worthy of a news story. The issue gets hashed out in a hearing, and only a handful of voters ever even know. The process seems mundane, but it’s incredibly important to ensure the integrity of our elections. Before the modern ethics reform, lobbyists and dark money groups were free to buy legislators with lavish gifts and tens of thousands of dollars for the candidate’s personal use. Elected officials got new cars, paid off their mortgage, or got a new pool. The new laws put a stop to that. Unfortunately, Mr. Lucas doesn’t believe the law applies to him. What kind of corruption is he hiding?
All of these issues are incredibly alarming. Rest assured we are doing everything in our power to hold Mr. Lucas accountable, and we are confident the voters will do the same.
"Hey I’m Congressman Rich McCormick. I’m here with Representative Todd Jones. I’m really excited about the things he’s been able to get done on the local level where real government gets done, the most representative government we have. I want to endorse him, say he’s doing a great job, he will continue to fight the good fight, and I want him to be part of this team. I want to grow the church, I want to grow the party, I want to continue looking to the future and he’s a big part of that."
You can see a video of his endorsement here.
"Keeping our community safe has always been my top priority. But safety isn't just about what happens on our streets; it's about the leaders who shape our future.
That's why I'm excited to support my friend Todd Jones. Todd has been serving our community for nearly two decades, from being the president of the elementary school dad’s club to representing us at the state level. Todd works tirelessly to ensure Forsyth County remains the best place to raise a family.
If we had more dads like Todd Jones, it would make my job a lot easier. His dedication to our community's safety, education, and prosperity is exactly what we need.
I’m proud to support Todd Jones for State House, and I hope you’ll do the same.
Thank you, and God bless.”
Sheriff Ron Freeman
Election integrity is an incredibly hot-button issue in American politics, particularly since the 2020 and 2016 elections. In fact, I think it’s been so hot-button, many people have developed “election integrity fatigue”. Frankly, I get it. I’m tired of watching grifters from across the political spectrum–like Jill Stein or Sydney Powell–use wild conspiracies to create doubt about our elections. That doubt creates political instability that can bleed into economic and social instability, negatively impacting our quality of life.
That’s why I’ve worked hard to strengthen voter confidence in our elections. Before we passed election reforms in 2021, only 56% of Georgia voters were confident in the results of our elections. After the 2022 election, that number increased to 73%. The reforms we worked tirelessly to pass are working, and Georgia has since been ranked as the top state in the country for election integrity. At the same time, an incredible 99% of Georgia voters said they had zero issues casting their ballot.
I would love to use this moment to take a victory lap and move on to other issues, but our election law has to keep pace with advances in technology. Like the widespread use of digital advertising in the 2016 election, recent advances in Ai technology could completely change the way campaigns work in 2024.
Ai is more than just a chatbot now, it has the ability to create photos, audio, and video. Just a few weeks ago, Ai was used to create a fake robocall from President Joe Biden encouraging Democrats to stay home on election day. While this particular attempt may run afoul of New Hampshire’s law against voter suppression, there’s little that can be done under current law to prevent future Ai “deep fakes”. Our election laws simply couldn’t foresee this technology.
That’s why I’m co-sponsoring legislation to prevent Ai “deep fakes”. The legislation would not prevent the use of Ai for campaign purposes, but would make it illegal to create fake content portraying another candidate or elected official. If this practice remains legal, campaigns and consultants will eventually add the Ai “deep fake” to their election strategy. That will further erode trust in our election, and create tremendous instability.
I believe this bill should enjoy bipartisan support and will help put guardrails on Ai to ensure it’s a tool used to create economic growth, not a weapon for political turmoil. I am also working to prevent the use of Ai to create pornographic content, which can be used to bully and embarrass with fake depictions of obscene acts. I should be able to provide more information about these efforts soon.
Until then, I hope you will support HB 986. As always, if you have questions or concerns please feel free to reach out. I would be glad to chat with you over coffee this Saturday at 9am at Fuel House Coffee.
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Can you take a moment to provide me with your thoughts on many of the issues that will arise during this legislative session? The survey covers K-12 education, transportation and other key areas. Please click here to access the survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018SurveyforToddJones. Please cut and paste the URL into your browser if the hyperlink is not working.
I truly appreciate the time and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance.
Best regards,
Todd Jones
Georgia House Representative, District 25
Todd.Jones@house.ga.gov
Mobile - +1 770 203 9230
PS - A town hall is being hosted on January 25th at 7pm at Brookwood Elementary School. The hosts include - Forsyth County Commissioners Brown and Semanson, BOE Chair Morrissey, Sheriff Freeman and me. It will be a Q&A format and open to all topics.
