The GRA: Hypocrisy and Incompetence, Defined
by Bill Simon
It’s too bad we don’t have a Time Machine of sorts in Ga GOP politics.
Because, if we did, and if the ambitious proposed amendments to the Rules of Georgia Republican Party are passed in the upcoming 2023 State Convention, perhaps we could go back in time to test the GRA’s theory of who the then-2021 state convention would have deemed to be worthy of passing muster to re-qualify as a Republican in 2022, and who would get the thumbs-down, and be blocked from qualifying as a Republican?
By the strangest coincidence, we do have a case, right here, right now, where we can test the GRA Theory of who is a Good Republican, who is a RINO Republican, and who is lower than dirt in the eyes of the GRA.
If you have read any of the e-missives from the likes of Alex Johnson or Nathaniel Darnell, you would read over and over their point of view on what they term the “political class” and how any member of it is lower than dirt in value to their Utopian view of the Ga GOP.
The AJC covered a bit of the GRA’s feelings about the “political class” in this article from March 23, 2023.
In it, they cite GRA President Alex Johnson’s message to his followers of urging the GRA to “send a message to ‘the political industry and their sycophants’ who blindly back establishment Republicans over ideological purists.”
I’ve received, and read, those GRA missives personally, so the AJC is summarizing things very well in that article.
Then there’s a mention about what happened at the Cobb County Republican Party convention, where there was an attempted move by Cobb RA Chair Nathaniel Darnell (frequent prevaricator and violator of Matthew 6, Verses 5-13) to kick Brittany Ellison off the delegate list to the state convention.
Ellison apparently won her slot in the end. But since Darnell didn’t win that round, he decided to bully her on the Cobb RA blog and falsely allege that she is a “liar” about what she dared to post previously about him (https://cobbgra.com/blog/ ).
And, he exhibited his derision for her being one of the “…paid members of the political industry.”
She is a “member” per se (as if that is a crime) as this is her company website. (But hold onto your horses, Folks…because this story is about to take a little turn…)
The “political class” are those people who are in the “evil political industry” whereby they derive income (Gasp! NO!) from the political and government world by being a political consultant, a lobbyist, a fundraiser, an events-planner, etc. who provide services to politicians for money.
In the mind of the GRA, anyone in the paid political industry is undeserving of any position of political party power, lest they use it for their own, personal gain (as if, ahem, the leaders of the GRA do not use their positions for self-aggrandizement purposes).
A couple of weeks ago, the GRA held a “Nominating Convention” whereby all evidence was brought forward on all potential candidates for State Ga GOP positions so the members of the Omniscient GRA could sit in judgement of qualifications. And decide, as a group, who they should nominate and endorse.
Let’s focus on just one candidate the GRA endorsed at their nominating convention. That nominee is for the next State Chair of the Republican Party: Josh McKoon.
McKoon is a former Georgia State Senator who is currently employed by the Technical College System of Georgia as their General Counsel, getting paid approximately $177,000 per year (Source: Open.Ga.Gov).
McKoon’s wife, Jacqueline McKoon, according to Josh McKoon’s campaign website: “…has an equal commitment to our cause and has a background in communications, advocacy, event planning, and foundation work. Together, we will ensure no facet of this organization is lacking.”
While that does sound like a wonderful background for Jacquelyn, what does it really mean?
A little bit of research revealed that Mrs. McKoon is the political consultant and president of “Constituent Connect, LLC.”
She discloses this on her Facebook page, so not too much work was involved in uncovering this.
What does Constituent Connect, LLC do?
Well, thanks to a little research into the two disclosure databases located at Ethics.Ga.Gov, we learn what Jacquie McKoon’s business entity has been doing since 2015 and up through 2023: CC has been paid political service consulting fees by 35 distinct Georgia-based politicians and political PACs.
In short, Constituent Connect, LLC is a political consulting company.
This fact makes Jacqueline McKoon a member of the “evil political industry” the GRA has been blasting about in quite the negative fashion.
I assembled the data into an easy-to-digest PDF report, showing details of all political clients and all payments paid to Jacqueline McKoon’s company from 2015 thru early this year. Constituent Connect Payments REPORT
For the years covering 2015 until now, her consulting company generated nearly $300,000 ($293,471 exactly) in total revenue from various Georgia political entities.
30 of those entities were Republican, 5 were Democrat political entities.
A few of the significant Democrat entities were:
- State Rep. Stacey Y. Abrams: $5,000 (Year 2015 payment)
- Georgia Next, Inc.: $5,509 (Year 2015 payments)
- State Senator Freddie Powell Sims: $1,000 (Year 2017 payment)
- State Rep. Calvin Smyre: $3,200 (payments from 2018 and 2020)
A few of the significant Republican entities were:
- State Senator Hunter Hill: $14,922 (Years 2016 and 2017 payments)
- Georgia Republican Party: $52,000 (Years 2020 and 2021 payments)
- LG Burt Jones: $52,164 (Years 2021 and 2022 payments)
It is the payments to Mrs. McKoon’s consulting from the Georgia Republican Party in recent years people should pay the closest attention.
Because the money she earned from being a political insider-friend of Chairman Shafer is money donated to the Ga GOP that was recycled into political consulting fees to Mrs. McKoon’s company.
AND then that money went into the Total McKoon Household Budget…where, when combined with Josh’s annual salary from the Technical College of Georgia, plus his pension from his time in the State Senate, all makes for a very nice sum of money that both McKoons derive from their mutual involvement in politics.
Then, there were candidates like then-candidate for Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones who paid Mrs. McKoon, and that money also went into the total McKoon Household Budget that personally benefited Josh.
Political consulting sure is a good business for the politically-connected, isn’t it?
And should Josh McKoon be elected in June to Ga GOP Chair, he will then be able to travel around the country to various RNC meetings on the State Party credit card dime, all the while making sure that every fellow politician he meets (or lobbyist, or PAC consultant, etc.) knows who his wife is, and what political consulting services she can provide all these new political contacts.
And, of course, ensuring that money from the Ga GOP gets directed towards Jacqueline’s company, the net cash flow of which will end-up in the McKoon Household Budget, where he will also derive benefits from awarding those contracts to his wife from the money he raises for the Ga GOP.
Josh will also be in a prime position as Ga GOP Chair to…thoughtfully suggest to any Republican candidates who meet with him to run for office in Georgia, that “Oh, by the way, my wife can probably help you…”
So, the prime GRA-endorsed Candidate for Ga GOP Chair, Josh McKoon, has a wife who is a working member of the “political industry.”
A paid political consultant. An evil political insider that people like Alex Johnson, Nathaniel Darnell, et al. despise because THEY are on the side of “Good” in the GRA.
Do either of the other two candidates for Ga GOP Chair have a spouse who is a political consultant, who will be in a key position of being exposed to all kinds of personal business opportunities that will result in both husband and wife being personally more financially-enriched due to the elected position of one of them?
I don’t think so…but maybe Rebecca Yardley and Dennis Futch can cover that aspect of their candidacy in the upcoming weeks of campaigning. What do their spouses do for a living?
As you can see, the GRA is quite incompetent in the simple “vetting” process of candidates for party office with regards to how it aligns with their supposed standards of Good vs. Evil.
And, if they are this incompetent in this little endeavor of a state convention party candidate vetting, just imagine how incompetent they will be if they succeed in the Rules change to then decide how “pure” someone is as a Republican to run under the Republican banner.
If they continue to sing the praises of Josh McKoon after this publication, they can be labeled as quite the hypocrites, just like the “RINOs” they deride in pretty much every single written publication they produce.
