Who funded Bibb County’s three biggest elections in 2024? Review campaign finance data for sheriff, mayor and DA

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were poured into the coffers of three incumbent candidates who were re-elected to Bibb County’s most powerful public offices, campaign contribution disclosure reports show.

But getting a full picture of who contributed to what campaigns, how much money was donated and how candidates spent those dollars is more challenging than a cursory visit to the Georgia State Ethics Commission’s website.

It took The Melody several weeks to sort through a confusing array of jumbled and partial campaign finance filings then track down ones unavailable on the state’s website. Numerous filings were missing pages due to scanning errors at the Bibb County Board of Elections office. Some filings were altogether absent from the state’s campaign finance website. 

Mayor Lester Miller has raised and spent more than $1 million since 2020. Some of his regular disclosures were hand-written. The scrawl made it difficult to decipher donor names and impossible to digitize into a searchable format. In another complicating factor, Miller regularly filed amendments to his regular submissions – sometimes more than one.

Donors of note include a handful people he has appointed to serve on various boards and authorities as well as a November 2023 contribution from the vice president of Altumint, a Maryland-based company that landed a lucrative contract with the county to operate automatic speed detection cameras outside of schools. The county has raked in more than $5.7 million in revenue through the speed detection cameras since the first ones were installed late in Spring 2022. 

Miller also received campaign dollars through donations from his own companies including at least one donation of $2,500 from Game on Training LLC, where he is managing partner and oversees day-to-day operations, according to his yearly personal finance disclosures. He also contributed at least $60,000 to an entity called Advance Alliance of Georgia Action Fund LLC. State business records show Miller is listed as its CEO. 

The single largest expenses Miller made were payments to Southern Majority, a political consulting company owned by Amy Morton. The payments were compensation for consultant work, phone banks, social media, voter outreach and other campaign-related work. 

District Attorney Anita Howard’s filings were neatly typed with few to no amendments. However, the filings do not include the occupations of many of her donors, a requirement on the forms political candidates file at least six times in an election year and thrice in a non-election year. 

Howard reported significantly more donations from limited liability companies and incorporated entities than either Miller or Sheriff David Davis. 

Some of Howard’s largest single expenses were to Hill Street Media for consulting. The company does not appear to be registered to do business in Georgia. Its website appears outdated and does not list information about the owner of the company. A call to the phone number on the company’s website reached the voicemail of a woman named Sandra.

Davis, who has served as the county’s top law enforcement officer since 2012, raised and spent the fewest campaign dollars of the three office holders. In addition to gas stations and food marts, donors of note include All-State Bonding — which neighbors the jail — as well as several towing companies that have contracts with the sheriff’s office.

The Melody’s campaign finance databases include searchable and sortable data for readers to peruse for a clearer picture of how money influences Bibb County’s most consequential campaigns.

Why We Reported This

The Macon Melody hired Laura Corley as our senior government accountability reporter in November. Publishing campaign finance reports is a basic element of holding politicians accountable — it’s important for voters to know where political money is coming from and how politicians spend it.

Over the past five years, which includes the most recent election cycle, there has been little-to-no reporting on campaign finance. The Melody selected the three most powerful local positions — county sheriff, district attorney and mayor — and spent several weeks gathering and analyzing five years of reports, going back and forth with election officials and building searchable databases for our readers.

Our story highlights some of the roadblocks and red flags we encountered along the way. The Melody will continue to publish campaign finance reports each year.

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Sheriff David Davis

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District Attorney Anita Howard

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Mayor Lester Miller