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Whatever Happened to the $11 Million Given to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for COVID Relief?
By Joe Hoft
Nov. 25, 2020
Georgia attorney Lin Wood’s bombshell tweets of late include one about an almost $11 million grant award to the Georgia Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger. What ever happened to this money?
In a recent tweet Lin Wood zeroed in on an anomaly, or something much, much worse, relating to the Secretary of State’s Office and this almost $11 million. Wood’s bombshell tweet refers to an April 15, 2020 letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) from Secretary of State Raffensperger, who is also Georgia’s Chief Election Official.
Hey, @GabrielSterling, you don’t have State of GA email??? How does your company, Sterling Innovative, make money? Did you or your company receive any of this $10+M grant? Implementation Manager??? What do you do except go on TV to deny the clear voting fraud in GA?#FightBack pic.twitter.com/01oSKXOjmB
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) November 24, 2020
Georgia was poised to receive a $10,875,912 grant from the EAC for Covid-19-related election expenses. (The EAC, a federal entity which, by the way, certifies U.S. election machines, hardware and software, has some clear and shocking conflicts-of-interest of its own going on with its Advisory Board.) Raffensperger assured the EAC that the funds will be used to “prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally, for the 2020 Federal election cycle.” This is a hefty sum of money!
The contact person at the end of the letter is Gabriel Sterling, who was appointed the COO of the Secretary of State’s office by Brad Raffensperger, the brand new SoS, shortly after Raffensperger was elected to the position in November 2018. Raffensperger’s predecessor was Brian Kemp, who had just been elected Georgia’s governor. Sterling, as COO, would be in charge of budgetary, human resources and administrative operations for the Secretary of State’s office. Sterling, strangely, has also been referred to, in multiple, recent media accounts, as Georgia’s “Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager.”
On his Twitter account, Sterling confirms that he is the “Voting System Implementation Manager”.
In the April 15 letter, Sterling lists a private gmail account address as his email account. The letter states: “If you have any questions about this request please contact our Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager, Gabriel Sterling, at
sterlinginnovative@g mail.com.” Why wouldn’t Raffensperger refer the EAC to his COO, the employee in charge of budgetary issues for the SoS’s office? Why, instead, send them to Sterling as Georgia’s “Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager”? Well, it turns out Sterling ALSO his own LLC called Sterling Innovative Solutions, with the “Registered Agent” listed is Robert Gabriel Sterling.
https://www.bizapedia.com/ga/sterlin...tions-llc.html.
So, is Sterling still the COO of the GA Secretary of State’s office or has he left that position? Is he the Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager for the Secretary of State’s Office as a state employee or has he been hired in that position as a consultant or independent contractor? Or is he acting BOTH as the COO of the Secretary of State’s office AND as a private consultant as Georgia’s Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager, through his LLC, Sterling Innovative Solutions LLC? Is there unethical double-dipping going on here or is it simply that the man has changed titles and positions under Raffensperger? It also raises the question, if Sterling is no longer the COO of the Secretary of State’s office, who is?
Lin Wood is right on the money: the use of a gmail account indicates that Gabriel Sterling CANNOT be a state employee, at least for purposes of this April 15 letter sealing the deal on $10.8+ million in Covid-19 money for the Secretary of State’s office. Or can he? Furthermore, Georgia already has an “Elections Director,” Chris Harvey, it says so right on the Secretary of State’s letterhead. Why wasn’t Harvey listed as the contact person in the letter to the EAC? Why does Georgia ALSO need a “Statewide Voting System Implementation Manager”? Are taxpayers paying for two state agency people to do the job of one? The public needs immediate clarification upon these issues, given that Sterling continues to assure the public and the media – on behalf of the state of Georgia and its Chief Election Officer, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his messed up, questionable, and clearly fraudulent election AND recount – that, Everything’s fine, move along, nothing to see here people.
Where’s the audit of this pile of Covid-19 money, held in trust and spent BY Brad Raffensperger for the people of Georgia? Georgians need an immediate accounting of this almost $11 million in federal EAC funds. If the Secretary of State will not willingly provide this information, Georgian’s need to send immediate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to both SoS Raffensperger AND the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, requesting a copy of the U.S. EAC grant award, copies of all correspondence between the Georgia SoS’s office and the EAC, all quarterly grant reports, all budgetary documents and amendments, and all disbursement records, with copies of the checks and/or electronic bank records, regarding this grant.
Let’s hope these and more questions are answered as a result of the upcoming filing from Sidney Powell expected later today in Georgia.
