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aha note GA stacy abrams screwed by sos Kemp, this pol ops gop passantino in charge of ethics?  jason boles

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NY TIMES: TRUMP PAID $750 IN US INCOME TAXES IN 2016, 2017; LAWYER DENIES NEWS

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Former top staffer on Georgia ethics commission appointed to panel

Georgia State Capitol

GEORGIA POLITICS

| July 23, 2019

By James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rick Thompson, a onetime top Georgia ethics commission staffer, was appointed Tuesday to be one of the five people who rule on complaints filed against campaigns and lobbyists.

Thompson was appointed to the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission — better known as the ethics commission — by Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.

Duncan, who paid Thompson’s company — RTA Strategy — to file his campaign disclosures during his race last year, had a spot to fill on the commission after appointing ethics panel memberAllen Yee to the State Road and Tollway Authority.

“Open government is an essential element in fostering confidence in a free, democratic society,” Duncan said in a statement. “Rick Thompson’s expertise and decades of experience will be integral to ensuring Georgians can have faith in our government and its leaders.”

Gov. Nathan Deal tapped Thompson for a spot on the commission in 2016. Thompson had also done work for Deal’s campaign. He eventually turned down the appointment after questions were raised about his eligibility, since he had registered to lobby for his company, which provides disclosure services to candidates, elected officials and others regulated by the commission.

The commission oversees compliance with campaign finance laws as well as lobbyist registrations and expenditures.

Thompson has not registered to lobby at the Capitol since 2016.

RTA has handled campaign finance reports and consulting for dozens of candidates and other entities. RTA has been paid about $325,000 over the past two years by state candidates and funds, including $57,000 by Duncan’s campaign.

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R. Thompson & Associates was founded in 2009 by Rick Thompson, the former head of the Georgia State Ethics Commission, a multi-decade veteran regulator in the states of Georgia and Missouri.  Jason Boles, a 20-year veteran business consultant and globally experienced media and marketing expert joined the firm a couple years later.  Together they have assembled a diverse team of people, systems and organizations known today as RTA Strategy, A Political Management Group.

RTA incorporates ethics, compliance, registration and disclosure reporting, public relations and strategy consulting services for candidates, campaigns, committees, lobbyists and corporations.  In addition to candidate disclosures, RTA has an impeccable track record for consultation, preparation and evaluation of disclosure reporting for PACs, ballot measures, constitutional amendments and lobbyists.

In addition to general consultancy and rudimentary reporting functions, RTA engages in the comprehensive management of state and federal PACs across the nation.

Complimenting its ethics and disclosure reporting services, supporting comprehensive PAC management solutions, RTA offers a unique niche to strategy.  Unparalleled public relations, crisis management, campaign and fund raising strategy dovetail proven excellence in ethics and compliance ensuring clients comprehensive, aligned representation.

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http://rtaSTRATEGY.com

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Government Relations

Company size

1-10 employees

Headquarters

Roswell, Georgia

Type

Privately Held

Founded

2009

Specialties

Ethics, Campaign Finance, Government Affairs, Public Relations, Lobbying, Consulting, Compliance, PAC Management, Crisis Management, Strategy, Strategic Planning, and Media Placement

Locations

Primary

1076 Canton Street

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Roswell, Georgia 30075, US

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Employees at RTA Strategy [Solutions Powered by R. Thompson & Associates]

Jason D BolesJason D Boles

Jason D Boles

Political Strategy | Poly-Fin Tech Innovator | Tobacconist | Investor

Rick ThompsonRick Thompson

Rick Thompson

Experienced Professional

Salim KhanSalim Khan

Salim Khan

Car Driver at RTA Strategy [Solutions Powered by R. Thompson & Associates]

shortly after dawn on a recent steamy July morning, a man who said his name was James Fortune showed up off NC Highway 12 in Cape Hatteras. He had flown in from New York City and rented a car for a rendezvous with an employee of a North Carolina nonpartisan election education organization for a long day of deep-sea fishing.

“I told him this was not a pleasure boat,” the employee told Policy Watch. “We were going to be out in the Gulf current, rough seas.”

No worries, Fortune said, he was an experienced deep sea fisherman, having been to Hatteras many times as a youth.  North Carolina Policy Watch (a Georgia Recorder sibling outlet) is not naming the employee or the organization because of concerns over security and safety.

But Fortune caught nothing except a bad case of seasickness. He spent the next 12 hours 30 miles at sea, alternating between heaving over the side of the boat and sleeping next to his seasickness bag.

This was one of many indications that the mysterious man from New York City might not be who he claimed to be — and that he was on a different type of fishing trip. A Policy Watch investigation has found links between Fortune, who progressive organizations in the state say has tried to infiltrate their groups, and many far-right political operatives, some as high-level as a one-time member of the Trump White House.

The tactic is similar to that used by Project Veritas, which for years has tried to infiltrate progressive organizations and Democratic campaigns in hopes of catching them in violating election law.

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported that Project Veritas had deployed people who misrepresented themselves as documentary filmmakers to gain access to several progressive and nonpartisan voter education organizations. 

Fortune could not be reached via Direct Message on Twitter or email. His phone number is no longer valid.

There is no evidence the organizations took the bait; instead they reported the activity to law enforcement. Now the State Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina has reportedly launched inquiries into Fortune and his tangle of connections. As part of its standard protocol, the SBI does not confirm the existence of investigations.

Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause, told Policy Watch that his group contacted Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and that her office has started an inquiry. 

Fortune has since disappeared. But he left behind a crucial thread that could unravel what appears to be a sprawling scheme by far-right groups with ties to the Trump administration to entrap several North Carolina nonpartisan voter education nonprofits into violating election laws.

These connections begin with a $3,000 wire transfer to the employee’s North Carolina nonprofit from Fortune’s “business partner,” Blue Sky Med Labs, based in Georgia. Policy Watch received a copy of the transfer receipt and verified the name.

Blue Sky Med Labs, which is located in a dull suburban office park in Roswell, is run by Jason Boles, according to Georgia Secretary of State records. Those same state records show Boles is entwined with more than 50 organizations and political campaigns, including that of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial QAnon candidate for a Georgia congressional seat; and a political action committee headed by Stefan Passantino, the former deputy White House Counsel under President Donald Trump.

Most important, Boles runs several organizations with Rick Thompson, a member of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (an agency formerly known as the Georgia Ethics Commission). He is also employed by Thompson at Thompson’s political management firm, RTA Strategy. Neither Boles nor Thompson responded to an email submitted by Policy Watch through the website.

Among the catchphrases on the RTA Strategy’s website: “You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.”

About two weeks before the fishing trip, Fortune had called the North Carolina nonprofit organization’s election protection hotline. The staff person fielding calls forwarded Fortune to the employee, who would later take him on the fishing trip. Fortune said he had about $20,000 to donate to various groups and wanted to know about partner organizations, the employee told Policy Watch.

Even though Fortune lived 600 miles away, he said he was fond of North Carolina, and allegedly owned a business, Equality Gym,and that he planned to return to the state and open a location here — even though all such facilities were closed by executive order because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Equality Gym set up its Twitter account in June, around the same time that Blue Sky Med Labs incorporated. 

Equality Gym has 35 Twitter followers and follows 1,062 accounts, including several North Carolina journalists, politicians and progressive groups. There are no original posts, and the account generally retweets sports and political news. Similarly, Equality Gym’s Instagram account has just one post. The website offers no contact information other than an email address, and is vague about its services.

Blue Sky Med Labs does not have a website, nor a social media presence.

The employee told Policy Watch that meetings and calls with donors and potential donors are common. “I say ‘yes’ to all kinds of things,” the employee said. “This was one call.”

The employee connected Fortune with other nonpartisan voter-education groups. Those included the North Carolina Black Alliance, which spoke to Fortune on a Zoom call. The employee told Policy Watch he was on that call, and that when Black Alliance members asked Fortune questions about the purpose of his donation, “he fumbled with his answers.”

NC Black Alliance declined Fortune’s offer, the employee said, and told him to get back to them when he had a firmer idea of his donation goals.

In July, Fortune flew from New York City to Raleigh and met the employee at My Way Tavern in Raleigh’s Glenwood South neighborhood because Fortune said he was staying in a nearby Airbnb. Throughout the conversation Fortune asked the employee about “strategies for targeting voters, as if he were naive.” The employee said he told Fortune the nonprofit used publicly available data. 

Fortune also asked the employee about contacts at the campaign of Cal Cunningham, who is running for the US Senate against Republican incumbent Thom Tillis. The employee said he told Fortune he did not have contacts at the Cunningham campaign.

At the end of the meeting, the employee took a call from a family member about a planned fishing trip to the coast. After the call, Fortune told the employee that he enjoyed deep-sea fishing. So they agreed to meet on an upcoming Sunday.

The employee said that at the time, he was unconcerned about his safety on the boat trip. Now, he said, he is worried about his security. He wonders what Fortune’s plan was had he not become seasick. 

From the RTA Strategy website

In early August, Fortune contacted Common Cause of North Carolina. Bob Phillips told Policy Watch that he had five conversations with Fortune, four of them on Zoom. Fortune told Phillips a similar story to the one he told other election education organizations: that he was moving back to North Carolina to open a gym. 

Fortune donated $1,000 to Common Cause, and again the wire transfer came from Blue Sky Med Labs.

Phillips said Fortune also asked him, “If we gave you $10,000 what would you do with it?”

“I was getting a little suspicious,” Phillips said. “It didn’t feel quite right not me.”

The last time Phillips communicated with Fortune was about a month ago, Phillips said. In an email, Fortune introduced Phillips to a woman who said she was living in Cumberland County, Selena Rodriguez. She said she had moved to North Carolina from New York and wanted to volunteer with Common Cause. She knew Fortune, she said, because he had been her personal trainer.

Phillips declined her offer.

Meanwhile, Fortaleza, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that specializes in leadership development work with Wake County’s Latino population that had also interacted with Fortune, became suspicious. It connected Blue Sky Med Labs, which allegedly was in business with Fortune, to Jason Boles.

A Policy Watch analysis of Georgia Secretary of State records show Boles is involved with a vast and sometimes confusing network of political campaigns, conservative advocacy organizations,far-right front groups:

• Boles is the registered agent for Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon supporter who is running for Georgia’s 14th District Congressional seat. In addition to her support of QAnon’s unfounded and outlandish conspiracy theories, Greene has a history of racist comments. According to Politico, she said Black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party,” called the elections of Representatives Rashida Tlaib in Michigan and Ilhan Omar in Minnesota an “Islamic invasion” and called billionaire George Soros a “Nazi.” Boles is also the registered agent for the political action committee, Save America Stop Socialism, which is run by Perry Greene, the husband of Marjorie.
• The other registered agent for Greene’s campaign, according to state records, is Stefan Passantino, former Deputy White House Counsel for ethics policy in the Trump administration. He is now part of a new pro-Trump coalition preparing for the possibility of a contested election, according to theWashington Post. Passantino also provided legal advice to the U.S. Postal Service this spring. A bio on his law firm’s website says that in the 2015-2016 election cycle, Passantino “helped form, and served as counsel to, some of the largest and most influential and innovative “SuperPACs” and 501(c)(4) advocacy groups in the presidential campaign, including the Trump Presidential Transition Team.
• Boles is a co-officer and/or registered agent of at least 16 organizations with Rick Thompson, one of Georgia’s state ethics board members. Among those are the Access to Credit Coalition, which appears to advocate for payday lending and other predatory lending practices; several Republican political campaigns for state office; and two for-profit companies that specialize in election software.
• Boles also is the registered agent for what appear to be environmental groups, including Citizens for Clean Water. However, none of these organizations has a website, so it’s difficult to ascertain their true purpose.
• He is also a co-founder of a ministry, Audacious Faith. Its purpose, according to Boles’s LinkedIn Page “is to create and facilitate environments, events and activities that align with Biblical directives and meet the specific needs of our community.”

Phillips told Policy Watch that it’s a vulnerable time for voter education groups, especially because of existing concerns about election security, absentee ballots and the possibility of a protracted vote count.

“It’s a shameful attempt by extremists to cast doubt on election integrity,” Phillips said. “We want to expose them and let the world know it’s happening.”

https://embed.kumu.io/51327e16045d42feaf2b1f11d5ac570d#map-4pPcUKZE/elem-PsuxqfCd

https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/mysterious-benefactor-for-nc-voting-rights-groups-raises-suspicion-of-gop-sting-operation/

according to The Daily Beast, voting rights groups in North Carolina were approached by a strange benefactor calling himself "James Fortune" — and his behavior aroused suspicions that he might be part of a Republican sting operation to discredit laws expanding access to the vote.

"Fortune, who claimed to be the operator of a progressive-minded North Carolina gym called 'Equality Gym,' donated a few thousand dollars to the groups. Then he started asking whether they could illegally register undocumented immigrants to vote," reported Will Sommer. "As the groups became suspicious, Fortune vanished — leaving behind only a blurry picture of himself, no proof that his gym actually existed, and suspicions that he was using an alias."

Indeed, the only evidence that Equality Gym exists is a Twitter account created in June, that provides no link to a website or information about a company. Its location is set to "New York" and its entire feed consists of random retweets of Democrats and sports news.

Democratic groups suspect that the whole thing could be the work of James O'Keefe, a right-wing activist whose group, Project Veritas, sets up sting operations to try to trick Democrats into supporting illegal activity and then posting videos of it. There is no evidence that O'Keefe specifically is involved, although he did launch a similar operation in Wisconsin, setting up a fake documentary team called "Zeitgeist Pictures" to interview progressive organizations.

Whether or not O'Keefe is behind the North Carolina affair, though, there is a clear Republican footprint.

"Whoever he really is, Fortune appears to have been working on behalf of at least one Republican operative. That $1,500 payment to Fortaleza, according to Echeverria and reporting from the News & Observer, traced back to a mysterious Georgia business called Blue Sky Med Labs," reported Sommer. "Blue Sky Med Labs is registered toJason Boles, a Georgia Republican operative who also registered the campaign organization for Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon believer and Georgia House candidate almost certain to win a congressional seat in November."

You can read more here.  https://www.thedailybeast.com/liberal-groups-fear-james-okeefe-election-sting

beware TEADS]

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Liberal Groups Fear O’Keefe Election Sting

‘BIG IF TRUE’

This summer, a mystery man named James Fortune began approaching voting rights groups in North Carolina.

Will Sommer

Updated Sep. 26, 2020 3:12AM ET / Published Sep. 26, 2020

The election is less than 40 days away. Donald Trump is refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. And now the Trumpworld hunt is on for material that can be used to discredit any election results that show Joe Biden winning the election.

This week:

James O’Keefe and associates circle voter registration groups.

Bogus ballot “destruction” story blows up on the right

Liberal groups fear election infiltration from O’Keefe and allies

This summer, a mystery man named James Fortune began approaching voting rights groups in North Carolina.

Fortune, who claimed to be the operator of a progressive-minded North Carolina gym called “Equality Gym,” donated a few thousand dollars to the groups. Then he started asking whether they could illegally register undocumented immigrants to vote.

As the groups became suspicious, Fortune vanished—leaving behind only a blurry picture of himself, no proof that his gym actually existed, and suspicions that he was using an alias. But the wired money came from a Georgia group with ties to a QAnon House candidate and a network of other Republican figures, raising suspicions among the groups that Fortune was working for right-wing undercover prankster James O’Keefe or an O’Keefe imitator.

Right around the same time that Fortune was attempting to infiltrate progressive North Carolina groups, a so-called documentary film crew called “Zeitgeist Pictures” began interviewing six liberal groups in Wisconsin for what they claimed was a documentary about voting rights. The groups became suspicious, though, after the filmmakers began asking whether the groups were willing to break the law to illegally register voters.

The film crew disappeared as the groups grew more suspicious when they found no proof, aside from a barebones website, that there’s an actual film company called Zeitgeist Pictures.The activists interviewed by the crew claim they were able to identify one of their “interviewers” as O’Keefe associate Christian Hartsock, using pictures of Hartsock online.

Unlike the Wisconsin operation, the North Carolina scheme hasn’t been publicly linked to O’Keefe, and Project Veritas spokesman Neil W. McCabe said O’Keefe’s group won’t “comment on investigations, real or imagined.” But on Monday, Project Veritas plans to release a video that O’Keefe claims will offer “UNDENIABLE VIDEO PROOF OF SYSTEMIC VOTER FRAUD.”

They say voter fraud “doesn’t exist.”

They say there is “no evidence.”

They say the evidence hasn’t been “substantiated”

And in a world where people don’t believe what they read or hear

Maybe people just need to see…https://t.co/OiRymtsgkk#BallotHarvesting

09.28.2020 pic.twitter.com/PqMBkcd71e

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) September 24, 2020

If it’s anything like past O’Keefe stings, the video will likely vastly overstate or decontextualize what actually happened. And it almost certainly will become fodder for the right, considering that Trump not only has ties to O’Keefe (he’s donated in the past to Project Veritas) but is eager to hype evidence of voter fraud. How much the media picks up on this depends both on whether they’ve learned lessons from covering O’Keefe’s past work and, frankly, whether he can actually produce the receipts for his work.

What we know so far is that a North Carolina organization, Fortaleza, received $1,500 in donations from Fortune before he disappeared, according to Fortaleza executive director Angeline Echeverria. But Echeverria grew suspicious of Fortune after he began asking whether her group could register undocumented immigrants.

“We’re really concerned that we may have been recorded, and that they might edit it in some way to give very false impressions of our work and our organization,” Echeverria told me.

Whoever he really is, Fortune appears to have been working on behalf of at least one Republican operative. That $1,500 payment to Fortaleza, according to Echeverria and reporting from the News & Observer, traced back to amysterious Georgia business called Blue Sky Med Labs.

http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2020/09/18/pw-special-report-trump-linked-effort-to-infiltrate-progressive-nc-groups-prompts-investigation/

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PW special report: Trump-linked effort to infiltrate progressive NC groups prompts investigation

By Lisa Sorg - 9/18/2020 - in News, Policy Watch Investigates, Top Story

The man who identified himself as James Fortune, photographed on a fishing boat off Cape Hatteras. He asked to accompany an employee of a nonpartisan voter education organization on the day-long trip, claiming he was an experienced fisherman. It turns out Fortune appears not to be who he claims to be. (Photo courtesy of the employee)

Man who went by “James Fortune” was a gateway to network of far-right operatives

Shortly after dawn on a recent steamy July morning, a man who said his name was James Fortune showed up off NC Highway 12 in Cape Hatteras. He had flown in from New York City and rented a car for arendezvous with an employee of a North Carolina nonpartisan election education organization for a long day of deep-sea fishing.

“I told him this was not a pleasure boat,” the employee told Policy Watch. “We were going to be out in the Gulf current, rough seas.”

Policy Watch is not naming the employee or the organization because of concerns over security and safety.

No worries, Fortune said, he was an experienced deep sea fisherman, having been to Hatteras many times as a youth.

But Fortune caught nothing except a bad case of seasickness. He spent the next 12 hours 30 miles at sea, alternating between heaving over the side of the boat and sleeping next to his sea sickness bag.

This was one of many indications that the mysterious man from New York City might not be who he claimed to be — and that he was on a different type of fishing trip. A Policy Watch investigation has found links between Fortune, who progressive organizations in the state say has tried to infiltrate their groups, and many far-right political operatives, some as high-level as a one-time member of the Trump White House.

The tactic is similar to that used by Project Veritas, which for years has tried to infiltrate progressive organizations and Democratic campaigns in hopes of catching them in violating election law.

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported that Project Veritas had deployed people who misrepresented themselves as documentary filmmakers to gain access to several progressive and nonpartisan voter education organizations.

Fortune could not be reached via Direct Message on Twitter or email. His phone number is no longer valid.

There is no evidence the organizations took the bait; instead they reported the activity to law enforcement. Now the State Bureau of Investigation has reportedly launched inquiries into Fortune and his tangle of connections. As part of its standard protocol, the SBI does not confirm the existence of investigations.

Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause,told Policy Watch that his group contacted Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and that her office has started a preliminary review into whether a criminal inquiry is warranted.

Fortune has since disappeared. But he left behind a crucial thread that could unravel what appears to be a sprawling scheme by far-right groups with ties to the Trump administration to entrap several North Carolina nonpartisan voter education nonprofits into violating election laws.

These connections begin with a $3,000 wire transfer to the employee’s North Carolina nonprofit from Fortune’s “business partner,” Blue Sky Med Labs, based in Georgia. Policy Watch received a copy of the transfer receipt and verified the name.

Blue Sky Med Labs, which is located in a dull office park in the suburban Atlanta town of Roswell and has no website, is run by Jason Boles, according to Georgia Secretary of State records. Those same state records show Boles is entwined with more than 50 organizations and political campaigns, including that of Marjorie Greene, the controversial QAnon candidate for a Georgia congressional seat; and a political action committee headed by Stefan Passantino, the former deputy White House Counsel under President Donald Trump. (Scroll down for a spreadsheet and networking maps of the players.)

Most important, Boles runs several organizations with Rick Thompson, a member of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission (an agency formerly known as the Georgia Ethics Commission). He is also employed by Thompson at Thompson’s political management firm, RTA Strategy.Neither Boles nor Thompson responded to an email submitted by Policy Watch through the website.

Among the catchphrases on the RTA Strategy’s website: “You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.”

*********

About two weeks before the fishing trip, Fortune had called the NC nonprofit organization’s election protection hotline. The staff person fielding calls  forwarded Fortune to the employee, who would laker take him on the fishing trip. Fortune said he had about $20,000 to donate to various groups, and wanted to know about partner organizations, the employee told Policy Watch.

Even though Fortune lived 600 miles away, he said he was fond of North Carolina, and allegedly owned a business, Equality Gym,  and that he planned to return to the state and open a location here — even though all such facilities were closed by executive order because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Equality Gym set up its Twitter account in June, around the same time that Blue Sky Med Labs incorporated.

Equality Gym has 35 Twitter followers and follows 1,062 accounts, including several North Carolina journalists, politicians and progressive groups. There are no original posts, and the account generally retweets sports and political news. Similarly, Equality Gym’s Instagram account has just one post. The website offers no contact information other than an email address, and is vague about its services.

Blue Sky Med Labs does not have a website, nor a social media presence.

The employee toldPolicy Watch that meetings and calls with donors and potential donors are common. “I say ‘yes’ to all kinds of things,” the employee said. “This was one call.”

The employee connected Fortune with other nonpartisan voter-education groups. Those included the North Carolina Black Alliance, which spoke to Fortune on a Zoom call. The employee told Policy Watch he was on that call, and that when Black Alliance members asked Fortune questions about the purpose of his donation, “he fumbled with his answers.”

NC Black Alliance declined Fortune’s offer, the employee said, and told him to get back to them when he had a firmer idea of his donation goals.

In July, Fortune flew from New York City to Raleigh and met the employee at My Way Tavern in Raleigh’s Glenwood South neighborhood because Fortune said he was staying in a nearby Airbnb. Throughout the conversation Fortune asked the employee about “strategies for targeting voters, as if he were naive.” The employee said he told Fortune the nonprofit used publicly available data. 

Fortune also asked the employee about contacts at the campaign of Cal Cunningham, who is running for the US Senate against Republican incumbent Thom Tillis. The employee said he told Fortune he did not have contacts at the Cunningham campaign.

At the end of the meeting, the employee took a call from a family member about a planned fishing trip to the coast. After the call, Fortune told the employee that he enjoyed deep-sea fishing. So they agreed to meet on an upcoming Sunday.

The employee said that at the time, he was unconcerned about his safety on the boat trip. Now, he said, he is worried about his security. He wonders what Fortune’s plan was had he not become seasick.

******

From the RTA Strategy website

In early August, Fortune contacted Common Cause of North Carolina. Bob Phillips told Policy Watch that he had five conversations with Fortune, four of them on Zoom. Fortune told Phillips a similar story to the one he told other election education organizations: that he was moving back to North Carolina to open a gym.

Fortune donated $1,000 to Common Cause, and again the wire transfer came from Blue Sky Med Labs.

Phillips said Fortune also asked him, “If we gave you $10,000 what would you do with it?”

“I was getting a little suspicious,” Phillips said. “It didn’t feel quite right not me.”

The last time Phillips communicated with Fortune was about a month ago, Phillips said. In an email, Fortune introduced Phillips to a woman who said she was living in Cumberland County, Selena Rodriguez. She said she had moved to North Carolina from New York and wanted to volunteer with Common Cause. She knew Fortune, she said, because he had been her personal trainer.

Phillips declined her offer.

Meanwhile, Fortaleza, a Raleigh-based nonprofit that specializes in leadership development work with Wake County’s Latinx population that had also interacted with Fortune, became suspicious. It connected Blue Sky Med Labs, which allegedly was in business with Fortune, to Jason Boles.

A Policy Watch analysis of Georgia Secretary of State records show Boles is involved with a vast and sometimes confusing network of political campaigns, conservative advocacy organizations, far-right front groups:

Boles is the registered agent for Marjorie Greene, a QAnon supporter who is running for Georgia’s 14th District Congressional seat. In addition to her support of QAnon’s unfounded and outlandish conspiracy theories, Greene has a history of racist comments. According to Politico, she said Black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party,” called the elections of Representatives Rashida Tlaib in Michigan and Ilhan Omar in Minnesota an “Islamic invasion” and called billionaire George Soros a “Nazi.” Boles is also the registered agent for the political action committee, Save America Stop Socialism, which is run by Perry Greene, the husband of Marjorie.

The other registered agent for Greene’s campaign, according to state records, is Stefan Passantino, former Deputy White House Counsel for ethics policy in the Trump administration. He is now part of a new pro-Trump coalition preparing for the possibility of a contested election, according to the Washington Post. Passantino also provided legal advice to the U.S. Postal Service this spring. A bio on his law firm’s website says that in the 2015-2016 election cycle, Passantino “helped form, and served as counsel to, some of the largest and most influential and innovative “SuperPACs” and 501(c)(4) advocacy groups in the presidential campaign, including the Trump Presidential Transition Team.

Boles is a co-officer and/or registered agent of at least 16 organizations with Rick Thompson, Georgia’s state ethics officer. Among those are the Access to Credit Coalition, which appears to advocate for payday lending and other predatory lending practices; several Republican political campaigns for state office; and two for-profit companies that specialize in election software.

Boles also is the registered agent for what appear to be environmental groups, including Citizens for Clean Water. However none of these organizations has a website, so it’s difficult to ascertain their true motives.

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He is also a co-founder of a ministry, Audacious Faith. Its purpose, according to Boles’s LinkedIn Page “is to create and facilitate environments, events and activities that align with Biblical directives and meet the specific needs of our community.”

Phillips told Policy Watch that it’s a vulnerable time for voter education groups, especially because of existing concerns about election security, absentee ballots and the possibility of a protracted vote count.

“It’s a shameful attempt by extremists to cast doubt on election integrity,” Phillips said. “We want to expose them and let the world know it’s happening.”

[Editor’s notes: 1) The North Carolina Justice Center — parent organization to NC Policy Watch — is a partner organization with the NC Black Alliance. The Justice Center has not been approached by James Fortune or any of the other individuals described in this story. 2) The story has been updated to clarify that Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman is conducting a preliminary review into whether a full criminal inquiry is warranted.]

The Jason Boles Connection.xlsx

Show

12

entriesSearch:

Business Name Mailing/ Street Address City State Zip Registered Agent Registered Agent Address City State Zip Member 1 Member 2 Member 3 Date of Incorporation Date of Dissolution Nonprofit or LLC

1859 Fund 191 Peachtree Street NE, Suite 3400/ PO Box 818 Atlanta GA 30303 Jason Boles 10719 Alpharetta Highway, #1483 Roswell GA 30077 Ben Harris Dave Collins Jack Murphy 43052 NP

A Georgia for Georgians PO Box 500884 Atlanta GA 31150 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles Rick Thompson Jason Boles 5/16/2018 NP

Access to Credit Coalition PO Box 1483 Atlanta GA 30077 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles Rick Thompson 3/8/2013 11/20/2019 NP

Americans for America 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles Rick Thompson 1/7/2020 NP

ATL One 2017 PO Box 500091 Atlanta GA 31150 Jason Boles US Hwy 19, #1483 Alpharetta GA 30077 Jason Boles Rick Thompson 10/19/2017 3/26/2019 NP

Audacious Faith 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles Carrisa Boles 6/16/2011 NP

Blue Sky Med Labs 5055 Old Ellis Pointe, A7 Roswell GA 30076 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles 6/17/2020 LLC

Bob Barr Company 900 Circle 75 Pkwy, Ste 1280 Atlanta GA 30339 Stefan C Passintino 303 Peachtree St NE, Suite 5300 Atlanta GA 30308 David Brown of McKenna Aldridge 9/28/2004 10/30/2009 LLC

Boles Land Co. LLC 290 Jayne Ellen Way Roswell GA 30009 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Roswell GA 30009 Jason Boles 42823 LLC

Brian Stover for Post 4 Commissioner PO Box 380 Dallas GA 30132 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Brian Stover NP

Chris Erwin for Georgia PO Box 501029 Atlanta GA 31150 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Ann Hopkins Wes Whitfield 2/1/2018 NP

Citizens for Clean Water PO Box 500824 Atlanta GA 31150 Jason Boles 290 Jayne Ellen Way Alpharetta GA 30009 Jason Boles Rashad Taylor 2/11/2020 NP

Showing 1 to 12 of 58 entries

TAGSBLUE SKY MED LABS ELECTION 2020 EQUALITY GYMJAMES FORTUNEJASON BOLESPROJECT VERITASRICK THOMPSONSTEFAN PASSARINO

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lisa Sorg, Environmental Reporter, joined N.C. Policy Watch in July 2016. She covers environmental issues, including social justice, pollution, climate change and energy policy. Before joining the project, Lisa was the editor and an investigative reporter for INDY Week, covering the environment, housing and city government. She has been a journalist for 22 years, working at magazines, daily newspapers, digital media outlets and alternative newsweeklies.

lisa@ncpolicywatch.com

919-861-1463

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Showing 1 to 58 of 58 entries

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PW special report: Trump-linked effort to infiltrate progressive ...

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:{Sep 18, 2020 - ... groups spurs criminal investigation; James Fortune; :{Jason Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:; QAnon. ... say has tried to infiltrate their groups, and many far-right political :{operatives:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, ... is run by :{Jason Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, according to :{Georgia:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: Secretary of State records. ... is running for the US Senate against :{Republican:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: incumbent Thom Tillis.:(style="overflow-wrap:break-word"):}:

Georgia firm tied to ethics board member financed scheme to ...

georgiarecorder.com › Government & Politics

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:{Sep 18, 2020 - :{Jason Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: who paid for a scheme to trap voting rights gorups runs several ... has tried to infiltrate their groups, and many far-right political :{operatives:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, ... who is running for the US Senate against :{Republican:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: incumbent Thom Tillis. ... A :{bio:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: on his law firm's website says that in the 2015-2016 election cycle, ...:(style="overflow-wrap:break-word"):}:

Jason D Boles (@jasondboles) | Twitter

twitter.com › jasondboles

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:{The latest Tweets from :{Jason:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: D :{Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: (@jasondboles). ... :{Georgia:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:. Politics. Entrepreneur. Cigars. Wine, Whiskey, Scotch, Bourbon, Rye. ... Not the smartest thing for a :{consultant:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: to do committing mail fraud by purposefully stealing ... Iowans are lucky to have a strong :{conservative:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: like her fighting for them, and I'm confident ...:(style="overflow-wrap:break-word"):}:

Missing: bio ‎| Must include:bio

Jason D Boles - Partner - RTA Strategy [Solutions Powered by ...

www.linkedin.com › jasondboles

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:{View :{Jason:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: D :{Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:' profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. :{Jason:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: D has 22 jobs listed on their profile. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover :{Jason:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: D'S connections ... :{Georgia:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: Named 'Top State for Doing. ... resourced employees and contractors and established :{operational:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: presence in ...:(style="overflow-wrap:break-word"):}:

Missing: Republican ‎bio ‎gop

Roswell, Georgia Based FrontRunner Wins 2018 Best ...

www.prnewswire.com › news-releases › roswell-georgi...

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:{May 2, 2018 - Roswell, :{Georgia:(style="font-weight:bold"):}: Based FrontRunner Wins 2018 Best Software as a Service in ... :{Jason Boles:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:, FrontRunner's Co-Founder stated, "The recognition from ... veteran of campaign finance as both a regulator and now :{consultant:(style="font-weight:bold"):}:.:(style="overflow-wrap:break-word"):}:

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