Influential Georgia evangelical group fined for ethics violations 

by Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

July 9, 2026

Frontline Policy, an influential Georgia conservative lobbying group, is facing $17,500 in fines in connection to complaints over unregistered lobbying and failing to file more than $380,000 in mandatory disclosure reports.

The fines were announced at last month’s Georgia State Ethics Commission meeting. Frontline was previously fined more than $4,000 by the commission for violating lobbying laws, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Frontline is an evangelical organization that pushes for conservative legislation in the Georgia Capitol. Frontline’s website describes the group as a Christian ministry and “the state’s most impactful Christian, conservative organization.”

Since its founding in 2021, Frontline has touted its role in helping pass legislation, including a ban on transgender girls from girls’ school sports, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that opponents say allows discrimination and a voucher program to provide state money for private school tuition for kids in low-performing districts.

But according to the ethics commission’s findings, Frontline skirted the law some of the time it was lobbying legislators.

In a complaint filed last year, attorney Bryan Sells accused Frontline of coordinating campaign contributions with candidates, not including mandatory disclosure statements in advertisements and failing to file required disclosure reports in 2022 and 2024.

Georgia State Ethics Commission Executive Director David Emadi said investigators looked into all the allegations but found only claims dealing with reports during the 2024 election cycle were actionable.

During that election, the ethics commission found that Frontline failed to report contributions of more than $380,000, earning the group a $10,000 fine, according to a June 24 consent order between Frontline and the ethics commission.

Emadi called the fines among the highest the commission has assigned for lobbying violations.

“Especially on the lobbying side, these are difficult cases to make because unless there’s evidence out there to pull or you’re physically there to see it, it’s hard to prove,” he said. “It’s one of the higher lobbying fines, it’s not the highest, but it’s one of the highest lobbying fines we’ve ever doled out.

“And I don’t know that it’s super common to have the same group violate on multiple occasions in that space, but it’s not unprecedented,” he added.

Emadi, who will soon be stepping down from the commission after Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to serve as a Superior Court judge last month, said Frontline could face stiffer consequences, including lobbying license suspension, for additional violations.

“I think that’s definitely a possibility, and our board, the commission actually addressed that for the first time at our June meeting, and I think that is something that they’re going to consider doing in the future with repeat offenders, if it comes to that,” he said.

Sells called the decision a victory for public disclosure.

“Really, it’s not about inflicting pain on any organization or anything like that,” he said in a phone call. “It’s just about making sure that the law is properly enforced so the public has the information that it’s supposed to have.”

“Frontline is a very active participant in Georgia politics,” he added. “It raises a substantial amount of money and gives a substantial amount of money to candidates, and so it’s important for the public to be able to know where that money is coming from and where it’s going, same with any other independent committee donor.”

In an email, Frontline’s president and founder Cole Muzio characterized the fines as the result of unintentional, minor mistakes.

“The Ethics Commission determined there was essentially a clerical error on our part so we have rectified that,” Muzio said. “Our goal has and remains to always abide by the letter and spirit of the law.”

Frontline accrued another $7,500 in fines for 24 instances of lobbying without registering, according to another June 24 consent order.

Frontline consists of a 501(c)(3) tax-deductable charity arm and a 501(c)(4) lobbying arm.

According to the consent agreement, Frontline Policy Action, the 501(c)(4), did not have any registered lobbyists in 2023 and 2024 but “regularly made communications discussing legislative work it had been involved in.”

At a meeting last week, ethics commission attorney Timothy Baywal told commissioners that lobbyists had registered to represent Frontline’s 501(c)(3) arm, Frontline Policy Council, but not Frontline Policy Action, and that he identified 24 instances of unregistered lobbying, including social media posts and mass emails with calls for action to contact legislators

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.