(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Along with Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’ insistent election-denying claims stemming from her 2018 campaign’s losing efforts, and her equally insistent claims that she never denied the election was illegitimate, the so-called voters rights organization that Abrams founded has funneled millions of dollars into the coffers of the law firm headed by Abrams’ campaign chairwoman.
Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, the longtime Abrams friend and ally who chaired her 2018 campaign’s losing effort, currently chairs Abrams campaign to unseat Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
Lawrence-Hardy is also one of two named partners in the small law firm that Fair Fight Action, the alleged voters rights nonprofit founded by Abrams, paid $9.4 million in 2019 and 2020, Politico reported.
The Abrams-founded group spent more than a staggering $25 million in legal fees over two years chasing alleged voter rights abuses, with a majority of the loot going to challenge a single case and funneled to her campaign chair’s firm of Lawrence & Bundy.
“It is a very clear conflict of interest because with that kind of close link to the litigation and her friend that provides an opportunity where the friend gets particularly enriched from this litigation,” Craig Holman, an expert on campaign finance and ethics at Public Citizen, told Politico. “The outcome of that litigation can directly affect her campaign itself.”
The largesse uncovered in the federal tax filings is likely just the tip of a very pricey iceberg that could crash into Abrams’ already-floundering campaign, which most polls show lagging Kemp.
The case that Lawrence-Hardy’s firm spent most of its efforts fighting and for which Abrams’ campaign manager received a bulk of payments from Abrams’ voters right group — Fair Fight Action vs. Raffensperger — took place last year and this year, for which federal filings are not yet public.
“Lawrence-Hardy declined to comment on how much her firm has collected from Fair Fight Action in 2021 and 2022,” Politico reported.
A federal judge recently tossed out all the remaining claims of alleged voter suppression that Abrams and her conspirators tried to link to the Fair Fight Action vs. Raffensperger case, ruling that the practices that were in place didn’t violate the Constitution or the Voting Rights Acts.
The lawyers got paid, win or lose, and Abrams’ current campaign manager, Lawrence-Hardy, told Politico there was nothing wrong with her law firm raking in millions from Abrams’ election-denying claims.
“We do provide other services for Fair Fight Action,” Lawrence-Hardy said, declining to elaborate further on the fees. “We have several matters for them.”
Abrams refused comment.
Legal experts blasted Abrams and her Fair Fight Action shell, along with Lawrence-Hardy, for refusing to provide full disclosure.
“Fair Fight Action ought to explain why this lawsuit cost so much,” Kathleen Clark, a professor of legal ethics at Washington University in St. Louis, said about the titanic legal bill.
“I think there are significant questions about this choice of firm and just why this lawsuit was so much more expensive,” she told Politico.
“It’s important that we have assurances that it is pursuing its stated goals, rather than feathering someone’s nest.”
