Georgia Republican Party, Inc. Files Motion to Seal Court Records...Forever
Apparently, Secrecy is the Reason the Georgia Republican Party is No Longer an Active Political Party
Long-time subscribers will recall numerous articles I have written to inform the public concerning the apparent fraudulent portrayal by Georgia Republican Party (GRP) officials, pretending that the Georgia “party of Lincoln,” is actually a corporation (GRP, Inc.), gaslighting the public to believe there is nothing wrong with that, as if to say, “Everything is fine, nothing to see here, move along, move along.”
All that I have described in my articles appears fraudulent because under Georgia Law, “political parties” are legal “organizations” created under “Title 21-Elections.” On the other hand, “corporations” are “legal persons” created under Title 14. By virtue of becoming political parties, those “organizations” have “ballot access.” They can lawfully place the names of candidates for public office on ballots in Georgia. Corporations, on the other hand, are under Title 14 and have no “ballot access.” Corporations cannot lawfully place candidates for public office on ballots in Georgia. Yet here we are, steaming along toward the biggest election in modern history, and we have a corporation, GRP, Inc., playing the part of a political party, GRP, holding primaries, placing candidates on Georgia ballots, as if all that is right and reasonable. Far be it from our Secretary of State, Governor or Attorney General from doing anything about this.
If you wonder why this is such a big issue, think of this: If a corporation can place candidates on Georgia ballots, then why can’t Delta Airlines do it? Why can’t Google, Apple, or Wall Street banks place candidates on our ballots? You see, that is where all this goes. Georgia, and our nation, are sliding toward completely destroying the constitutional republic that is the United States of America, and morphing it into a different form of government, insidious and most dangerous to individual freedom. That form of government is better described as “corporate fascism.” Under corporate fascism, private corporations effectively run the government, for their own purposes rather than the purposes of the people. That is the kind of government we saw in Germany during the 1930’s and ‘40’s. In 1933, Germany outlawed all political parties, and created a corporate entity they called the “Nazi Party.” The Nazi Party corporation was operated by, well, you know who. Perhaps you now see the dangers.
The individual heading up this apparent political fraud is Josh McKoon. In 2023, during the presumed Georgia Republican Party Convention in Columbus, delegates to that convention, believing they were members of an ORGANIZATION known as “Georgia Republican Party” (GRP), voted to elect Mr. McKoon to the position of “Chairman.” Somehow, that election also resulted in McKoon simultaneously becoming CEO of “Georgia Republican Party, Inc.” (GRP, Inc.) No one outside of the inner circle can tell you how that works. It just is.
Josh McKoon has said publicly that all I describe is indeed not proper and needs to be corrected. Correcting “the Inc.” was a plank in his campaign to become chairman. Yet, he has done nothing to correct it. If, after the November election the Georgia Democratic Party doesn’t like the result, they could take the GRP, Inc. to court, and for that matter take the Secretary of State to court, and sue on the basis that every GRP, Inc. candidate was placed on 2024 Georgia ballots without lawful basis, and make the case that all Republican candidates should be declared ineligible, their wins voided by the courts on the basis of the arguments I share here. So, this is no small distinction you are seeing.
Now, I have written about all this, as they say, until I am blue in the face. I am not going to write it all again. But I am going to quote myself to explain how the corporation came into being and how the Georgia Republican Party seemingly morphed from a “political organization” and became a “legal person.” To do that, I am going to pull from an article I wrote last September entitled, Kemp's Ultimate Goals Now Coming Into View-Privatization of Georgia's election processes. Here is what I wrote:
The Incorporation of GRP, Inc.
On February 7, 2014, then Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s signature certified the creation of a new non-profit corporation, Georgia Republican Party, Inc.
As the certificate indicates, this corporation came into existence as a result of someone filing documents and paying fees under TITLE 14 of the Official Code of Georgia. Importantly, Title 14 is Georgia law with regard to CORPORATIONS, not ELECTIONS. TITLE 21 regards POLITICAL PARTIES and ELECTIONS.
So, who filed the required documents and paid the fees necessary to birth this new “legal person” into existence? As you will see in the next exhibit, that individual would be an attorney apparently representing a certain John Padgett, who would become a one-person board of directors for this new corporation, Padgett solely authorized to exercise its powers.
You may be asking, who is this John Padgett? Well, at that time, Mr. Padgett was the elected Chairman of the Title 21 Georgia Republican Party (GRP). By the end of the day on February 7th of that year, however, John Padgett was not only Chairman of the GRP, a political party presumably registered at the time with the Secretary of State under OCGA Title 21-Elections, but also the Chairman of Georgia Republican Party, Inc. (GRP Inc.), registered that day as a separate and distinct entity from GRP, with the Georgia Secretary of State as a Title 14-Corporation. The Secretary of State at the time, whose signature appears on the GRP, Inc. certification, was, again, today’s Governor, Brian Kemp.
That begs the question regarding the reason John Padgett, Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party (GRP), would register a corporation by the same name and name himself chairman? It seems the only answer anyone ever receives to that question is that Chairman Padgett found himself being sued for certain activities he allegedly undertook while party chairman, and decided to create a corporation by the same name, ostensibly to provide a layer of liability protection for himself, never minding the fact that were that true, an insurance policy could afford the same protection, and a new corporation springing into existence after the alleged activities took place, would not aid his defense in any event. Secondly, the political party for which he served chairman already provided insulation from liability associated with acts committed in pursuit of its lawful purposes. As long as the chairman engaged in lawful pursuits in the interests of the party, he would have nothing to fear. But even after creating a corporate entity, should a chairman’s pursuits be outside of the law, he or she could be sued personally regardless. There is much about these alleged events which remains unknown, for example, well, practically everything. Still, if you ask that question, what I just explained will likely be your answer. If you receive a different response, please let me know.
By June of that year, Mr. Padgett declared himself both CEO and CFO of GRP, Inc. Padgett held both positions until July of 2017, replaced by two individuals, John Watson and Mansell McCord.
Today, according to the Secretary of State website, the CEO, CFO and Secretary of GRP, Inc. are Josh McKoon, Lauri McClain and Caroline Jeffords, respectively, coincidentally the same individuals elected as Chairman, Treasurer and 1st Secretary during the Columbus Republican Convention last June (2023). In fact, ever since Mr. Padgett left office, the individuals elected to executive positions during biannual Georgia GOP conventions, including Watson and McCord, somehow, almost miraculously, with no apparent connection between the Title 21 political party and the Title 14 corporation of the same name, become the CEO, CFO and Secretary, respectively, of Mr. Padgett’s private corporation.
Georgia Republican Party Morphs and Becomes Georgia Republican Party, Inc.
Here’s where it all gets weird. Somehow, between February 7, 2014 and the next several party election cycles, the Title 21 GRP apparently “morphed,” soon identifying itself as “GRP, Inc.,” effectively impersonating Mr. Padgett’s Title 14 corporation while operating a Title 21 political party, clumsily retaining the same name it had always been, “Georgia Republican Party,” but manually adding “Inc.” to its name on all of its in-house and public paperwork, in the end, making the name of the party appear to be “Georgia Republican Party, Inc.” But in reality, nothing with respect to its identity had officially changed. Therefore, the organization was still the same “Georgia Republican Party” it had always been. GRP, Inc. was, and is, the same corporation it has been since February 7, 2014. But the two are not the same. Simply because you scribble, “Inc.” after your name, that doesn’t mean you are a corporation.
Regardless of common sense, as a result, apparently, there are now two entities, under different titles of law operating as “GRP, Inc.”, the Title 14 private corporation of Mr. Padgett which is still around, but also a Title 21 political party, GRP, being impersonated by Mr. Padgett’s Title 14 private corporation. Why would they do that?
For some reason, those at the helm of the Georgia Republican Party have been determined to mask their organization to resemble and identify as a private corporation, and vice versa. They control both organizations, maintaining the annual registrations of the Title 14 private corporation, GRP, Inc., while publicly portraying the Title 21 Georgia Republican Party to be one and the same with it.
That being the case, apparently, others have been working in the government to hide the Title 21 political party from public view as well. Repeated open records requests to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, as well as the Georgia Archives, asking to receive registration certificates for “Georgia Republican Party,” turn up nothing, the Open Records Request Officers consistently evading questions, losing records requests, and ultimately denying the possession of any such records. Thus, apparently, the records in question have either been destroyed, lost or are locked away where no one working to fulfill open records requests can gain access.
Why would anyone destroy or lock away registration records of the Georgia Republican Party? I cannot say for sure, however, it appears that the GRP (the party not the corporation) is no longer officially active with the Secretary of State, and has been effectively replaced by its corporate cousin of nearly the same name, “GRP, Inc.” Perhaps those who are behind all this do not want knowledge of this apparent unlawful and deceptive arrangement available to the public, efforts to hide those records adding to the apparent unlawful or criminal nature of all we are uncovering here.
So, let’s be clear. A corporation cannot “identify” as a political party, and vice versa, any more than a rabbit can “identify” as a house of hens. There are no powers or privileges vested in Title 14 corporations, for example, to nominate candidates for elected offices and receive ballot access. If there were such powers and privileges, they would be enumerated under Title 14. But they are not…
…at least not yet.
That brings us to the next question: Given that the Title 14 GRP, Inc. “corporation” has no power nor privilege to nominate candidates for elected office, and given no accessible evidence that a Title 21 GRP “political party” is active or currently registered in Georgia at this time, and given that those who purport to be running the “Georgia Republican Party” are using Title 14 corporate rules, adopted June 17, 2020, rather than Title 21 political party rules, who or what entity lawfully nominated the 2022 Republican slate of statewide candidates, Brian Kemp, Brad Raffensperger, Chris Carr, or even Burt Jones to place them on the statewide Georgia ballot? Corporations have no lawful ballot access. The state Republican Party, whatever that means at this point, publicly operates under corporate, “GRP, Inc. Rules” and has since at least 2020. Those facts bring us to an impassible intersection, red lights in all directions. Thus, I am quite serious when I ask, are these people truly elected office holders? I’m really not confident to say.
GRP, Inc. Attempting to Seal Court Records of Deal With John Padgett
Now there is much more to convey in the saga of the relationship between John Padgett and GRP/GRP, Inc. At the end of this Substack I will provide a reading list of articles I have written concerning this subject, which when read will bring you completely up to date. But, here I am going to summarize a few facts about which you can read in detail later if you choose.
The first fact is that the Georgia Republican Party does exist, even today, as a “political party,” however it is a separate and distinct legal entity from GRP, Inc., a “corporation.” We know that because once registered with the state there are no provisions to dissolve a political party. It’s just that the GRP is not current with its registration. Said another way, GRP is not in compliance with the requirements of a political party spelled out in Title 21 of Georgia Law. That doesn’t mean it does not exist. It only means that GRP is not entitled to place candidates on a legal Georgia ballot.
The second fact is that John Padgett and GRP, Inc. have been in a court battle for several years, that case springing from an allegation that Padgett used GRP, Inc. funds to pay certain legal fees incurring from two lawsuits in which he was sued by a former employee of the Georgia Republican Party and one other. As you will read in the articles I give you below, in the first such case, the individual suing Padgett sued BOTH GRP and GRP, Inc., two separate entities, with separate registered agents and separate addresses.
The third fact is that John Padgett and GRP, Inc. sued each other over the question of payment of Padgett’s legal fees. The court would find that Padgett consolidated the defense of two suits, one related to his work as party chairman, the other not, while apparently using the same attorney to defend both cases, and billing GRP, Inc. to pay the costs of each. Therefore, the court decided Padgett was liable to pay GRP., Inc. damages related to the costs paid by GRP, Inc. in defending the second suit. Of course, then comes the question of legal fees for GRP, Inc., etc.
Fact number four is that, apparently, in order to delay paying GRP., Inc. what he owes, Padgett appealed the court’s decision. I say Padgett’s appeal was a stalling tactic because once the appeal was filed, Padgett did nothing required of him to fulfill the appeal’s requirements. Ultimately, the appeal ran out of time, and was dismissed. Thus, at this point the court is about to hear damage claims by GRP, Inc.
Apparently, however, the two sides have come to an agreement on damages outside of a court judgment. And the attorney for GRP, Inc. has filed a MOTION TO FILE UNDER SEAL the terms of that agreement, to wit:
Note, in this case and in many other instances, GRP, Inc. uses the name, “GAGOP” practically as a DBA for itself. Doing so, allows them to fool the public to believe the entity, GRP, Inc., is one and the same with the Georgia Republican Party. It is not and never can be. All that is a ruse.
Thus, according to number 12 above, GRP, Inc. has recently informed the court that the terms of the Settlement Agreement with John Padgett require secrecy between the two parties to the suit. Obviously, GRP, Inc. does not want those terms publicly known, and they have motioned the court to seal those terms, IN PERPETUITY!
Now, what on earth is so important about any of this that the public should kept in the dark about the terms of this Settlement Agreement, such that those terms should be sealed IN PERPETUITY? For crying out loud, the Kennedy assassination records are not sealed IN PERPETUITY! Here GRP, Inc. is making the case that it has PRIVACY INTERESTS APART FROM THE INTERESTS OF THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTED THE MONEY TO FIGHT THE CASE. Remember, GRP, Inc. calls itself GAGOP, and purports to be a Title 14 corporation and a Title 21 political party at the same time. While playing the part of a political party, GRP, Inc. solicits contributions from private citizens to help support Republican Party candidates. We have it on good authority that those contributions go right into a single general fund, out of which GRP, Inc. has also been paying the costs of this lawsuit. Yet, those private citizens, whose contributions have been spent on a lawsuit RATHER THAN SUPPORTING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE, do not get to know whether their funds were frittered away by GRP, Inc. in a lawsuit that should have been settled years ago, or whether their contributed funds were ever recovered.
And, apparently, what I describe here is at least one reason the GRP, Inc. “legal person,” and the Georgia Republican Party “political organization,” morphing together into a single entity described nowhere in law, has never been reconciled. You see, operating as a private corporation, the public would not be entitled to see a secret settlement agreement. A settlement agreement between two private parties can remain secret as long as both sides agree. And GRP, Inc. purports to be a PRIVATE entity. Obviously, Josh McKoon and company do not want the public to know what they are doing with their money.
On the other hand, the Georgia Republican Party slice of this unlawful GRP/GRP, Inc. entity, HAS NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY BECAUSE THEY SOLICIT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PRIVATE CITIZENS TO USE TO ELECT PUBLIC OFFICIALS. Operating as a political party, GRP must report all of its income and expenses under OCGA § 21-5-34-Disclosure Reports.
Apparently, the hopeful ability of GRP, Inc. to conceal the terms of this Settlement Agreement with John Padgett is the reason the cabal operating GRP, Inc. has been so secret in its “corporate purposes.” As a private corporation they can conceivably do anything they desire with corporate money. They do not have the same state and federal reporting requirements as political parties. I mean, folks, look at this, there is no telling what these people are really up to. But I will say this, as long as GRP, Inc. solicits and receives private contributions ostensibly to aid Republican candidates to seek office, that organization is not entitled to any form of financial secrecy from the public. GRP, Inc. is therefore not entitled to redact any or all of the agreement with John Padgett from public view. The courts must summarily reject this motion by GRP, Inc. And if that means the Settlement Agreement does not go forward, and that the court will have to decide the damages, so be it.
In chronological order, here are my articles on the subject of GRP/GRP, Inc.:
Kemp's Ultimate Goals Now Coming Into View-Privatization of Georgia's election processes
Georgia Republican Delegates Heading for Disqualification in 2024?-McKoon and others must resign
Where, Oh Where Has the Georgia Republican Party Gone?-State of Georgia has no records-Take a hint
To your knowledge, has something similar happened in any other state?
Are our courts so corrupted the people have no recourse?
When you shine a light on Georgia politics, no telling what type of creature slithers away. Thanks for shining that light, Hank.