Percentage of Influence Dollars: This percentage is based on the campaign donations identified by the Project as being from “influencers” (lobbyist expenditures are not included) divided by the Total Itemized Campaign Funds Raised.

Total Campaign Funds Raised: This dollar amount is the total of all the campaign funds raised and reported to the state ethics commission by Commissioner Johnson since he was appointed by Governor Kemp in July 2021. For this Project, this number also does not include loans from the candidate to the campaign or aggregated campaign contributions under $100 because the sources of those funds are not reported per campaign finance law and therefore are not able to be tracked as influence dollars or not. The amount does include itemized in-kind contributions, which are presented separately on the campaign finance report.

Total Influence Dollars are the combination of all lobbyist expenditures plus campaign contributions from individuals and entities that we have identified as those regulated by the PSC, have a business relationship with an entity regulated by the PSC or are looking to influence a decision made by the PSC.  Commissioner Johnson’s Total Influence Dollars date back to the start of his current term, which began in July 2021 when he was appointed by Governor Kemp to fill a vacancy on the commission. Some campaign donors could not be immediately identified as influencers and will require additional research to uncover any relationships that would make them an “influencer”, so check back often as we expect this number to grow.

Notes of Interest:

• Johnson has sadly set the record for all commissioners (with a measurable amount of campaign contributions) by reaching 90% of his campaign funds collected coming from Influencers as of his April 2022 report, however, his June 2022 report lowered that percentage to 86%. The percentage still ranks highest, with Commissioner McDonald in second place with a high of 82%.
• Only $26,615.09 in campaign contributions could not be identified as Influencer Dollars, while he collected $168.979 from Project identified PSC Influencers.
• Johnson has also set the Project record of pumping the most of his own cash into his campaign with a personal loan to the campaign of $150,000.
• He also has 56% of entries on his Campaign Finance Report that do not meet the standards of state law by reporting the employer and job title of many of his donors. Johnson’s reports are either blank in those sections, or say “information requested”. This is problematic because it makes it more challenging to identify the sources of this campaign funds.