Josh McKoon, the leader of the Georgia GOP, said a few days ago that Brant Frost V, the son of First Liberty Building & Loan’s troubled founder, was leaving his position as chair of the Coweta County GOP and the party’s state committee.
However, it’s unclear if Frost V has resigned from the latter position yet. He is still listed as chair on the Coweta GOP website, which also features a message asking members to wait for due process to be finished in relation to the circumstances surrounding our chairman’s family business.
It says, “We request that the investigation be permitted to proceed without conjecture or bias, just as President Trump faced numerous legal challenges that garnered media attention without all the facts being brought forward.”
Records indicate that Frost V left the state committee on August 1st, according to McKoon. When asked if an election has been planned to replace him, Coweta GOP officials did not return calls, but McKoon claimed he was informed that one will be held within 30 days.
Brant Frost IV, the founder of First Liberty and the father of Frost V, is charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with masterminding a $140 million Ponzi scheme that transferred millions to support conservative groups and profit the family. Frost IV has expressed regret in public and encouraged investors to cooperate with a receiver appointed by the court.
The SEC complaint does not name Frost V, who frequently advocated for First Liberty on conservative media. State investigators, however, are examining him more closely.
The State Ethics Commission has accused the Georgia Republican Assembly PAC he led of 61 violations, claiming the group unlawfully impacted elections by making over $220,000 in unreported expenditures.
Additionally, just before First Liberty failed, Frost V was subpoenaed by regulators from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office for records related to a new loan company he was trying to create.
Several calls and messages asking for comment have gone unanswered by Frost V.
Things to know
Good morning! Today marks 104 years since former Georgia Governor Thomas Hardwick signed legislation essentially granting women the right to vote. This was accomplished in 1920 by the U.S. Constitution’s 19th Amendment, although Georgia law maintained barriers until the election of 1922.
Three more things to be aware of today are as follows:
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A new report from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce says President Donald Trump s new tariffs are causing uncertainty and significant challenges for Georgia businesses, the
AJC s Zachary Hansen and Gray Mollenkamp report
.
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Lawyers for the state of Georgia and a local development authority are scheduled to go to court today seeking to recoup more than $540,000 in legal fees accumulated in two unsuccessful lawsuits challenging the zoning for Rivian s planned electric vehicle factory near Atlanta,
Hansen reports
.
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U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is finding more support for his recent votes against sending certain weapons to Israel, the
AJC s Tia Mitchell reports
.
Keep calm
Miguel Martinez/AJC is credited.
Miguel Martinez/AJC is credited.
Sonny Perdue, Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, urges everyone to pause.
On Tuesday, the former governor of Georgia expressed alarm about President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, which would reduce university funding for research.
Republican Perdue, however, is finding comfort in the system’s most recent record-breaking research spending. He said that Georgia Tech’s research expenditures last year reached an all-time high of $1.43 billion. Another record-breaking $654 million was spent by the University of Georgia.
According to Perdue, the U.S. economy is expanding as a result of this spending, and the current trend is expected to continue.
We are currently working to persuade the federal government that a collaboration between federal spending and our more than 70-year-old university system has produced incredible new outcomes for humanity worldwide, he stated.
Congress is also beginning to push back. Last month, Trump’s proposed cut to the National Institutes of Health, a significant source of financing for research colleges nationwide, was rejected by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which includes Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia. They decided to boost its funds instead.
Dueling videos
Derek Dooley, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Georgia, said that as a college football coach, he frequently showed his players footage of their performance to explain why they weren’t receiving any playing time. He is now using the same justification to urge voters to reject Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff.
Your movie serves as your CV. On X, Dooley released a video. Jon Ossoff has the same eye as us. He sat there and gave his approval to the four-year record of all the Biden administration accomplished.
We say in coaching, “Your film is your resume.” It’s clear from seeing Jon Ossoff’s film that he doesn’t speak for Georgia.m7HwVvJQze pic.twitter.com/
But Democrats did not give Dooley the last say. On Wednesday, they shared a video of conservative talk radio hosts talking about Dooley’s shortcomings as a football coach.
Steve Gill, a conservative commentator and former collegiate basketball player, stated, “I hope he campaigns better than he coached.”
Court watch
Photo courtesy of AP
Photo courtesy of AP
The 2026 midterm elections could be flipped by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A former Kentucky county clerk has petitioned the court to reverse the historic ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which essentially made same-sex marriage legal across the country.
Like the court’s 2022 decision to hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade, the case’s outcome might significantly alter the landscape of 2026 elections nationwide.
The issue involves Kim Davis, a former clerk for Rowan County who claimed that the Obergefell ruling in 2015 went against her religious convictions and stopped issuing any marriage licenses.
The U.S. Supreme Court has previously rejected Davis in other cases, and he has continuously lost at all judicial levels.
Politicians, meanwhile, will be closely monitoring the issue, particularly in light of Justice Clarence Thomas’s 2022 call to overturn the Obergefell ruling.
If the Obergefell ruling were overturned, states would once again have the final say over same-sex marriage. In 2004, voters in Georgia approved a constitutional amendment that restricted marriage to a man and a woman. This law is still in effect today, but it is not enforced.
Car talk
Credit: AJC/Adam Beam
Credit: AJC/Adam Beam
Almost ten years ago, Mercedes-Benz teamed up with Gwinnett Technical College to allow students to train on its cars, thereby creating ready-made workers when they graduated.
Now, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, wants to give them and other businesses a new tax credit in appreciation for their investments. He presented a bill that would allow businesses to receive a competitive tax credit of up to 30% of their investment if it were to become law.
Transportation, construction, nuclear and solar energy, and semiconductors are among the businesses that qualify. According to Ossoff’s office, the Mercedes-Benz initiative served as a direct inspiration for the measure, which was supported by ten local chambers of commerce.
This week, Ossoff told the Rotary Club of Atlanta, “I noticed that the conversation on higher education was almost exclusively focused on four-year college when I arrived in the Senate.” However, trade school, vocational training, skills training, and the employment that such training opens up are the means by which many people achieve financial stability, retirement savings, and a middle-class level of living.
Listen up
Thanks to AP
Thanks to AP
Today on thePolitically GeorgiaTennessee sports radio veteran Jimmy Hyams joins the show to share stories from covering Derek Dooley as the head football coach at the University of Tennessee.
Then, Greg Bluestein speaks with Georgia state senator John F. Kennedy, a Republican from Macon, about his strategy for addressing chronic absenteeism in public schools, his preference for prevention over punishment, and his belief that it is a state economic concern.
Politically Georgia is available for free listening and subscription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app.
Do you have a remark or question for the show? Email us [email protected] give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Election law challenge
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Georgia state officials and civil rights groups will be back in court today to argue about provisions of a2021 election law.
The big issue is a provision that bans people from handing out food and water to voters standing in line at polling places. The court will also hear arguments about the law requiring election officials to reject absentee ballots of people who don t write their birth dates on the envelope.
Republicans who control Georgia s Legislature passed the law shortly after the 2020 presidential election, when then former President Donald Trump falsely said the race was stolen.
The law caused a big backlash, including prompting Major League Baseball to remove the 2021 All-Star game from Atlanta. The law was also mocked in a major storyline of the final season of the HBO showCurb Your Enthusiasm.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. The AJC s Mark Niesse will be there.
Trump today
President Donald Trump will announce this year s Kennedy Center Honors recipients.
Shoutouts
Transition:
- Sandra Neuse, vice chancellor of real estate and facilities for the University System of Georgia, will retire in November. She ll be replaced by Frank Smith, the deputy executive director of the State Properties Commission.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There s a form for that.Click hereto submit the shoutouts. It s not just birthdays. We re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Credit: University of Georgia
Credit: University of Georgia
The University of Georgia contributed $23.1 billion to the state economy while generating more than 168,000 full and part time jobs, according to a new analysis announced Tuesday by University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue.
That ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info [email protected],[email protected],[email protected]@ajc.com.
