Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct

The Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct was formed by a non-partisan coalition of groups - the A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service at Kennesaw State University, the Georgia Municipal Association, and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation - to promote issue driven campaigns in Georgia. In partnership with the Institute for Global Ethics' National Project on Campaign Conduct, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct focused on the 11th Congressional District of Georgia and worked with the candidates to develop a voluntary code of campaign conduct for their campaigns. The project provided a framework for the candidates to negotiate a set of principles that their campaigns would follow during the general election. A code of campaign conduct is to enable the candidates to better focus on the issues that are important to voters, and enable them to identify for themselves and the voters the differences between fair and unfair campaigning.

The Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct worked with the 11th District Congressional candidates Phil Gingrey and Roger Kahn to draft a code that would serve as a blueprint for how they would run their races. The Georgia Project on Campaign conduct helped negotiate the 11th Congressional District Code of Campaign Conduct that was signed by the candidates on October 16, 2002. The Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct publicized the code, and then let the voters decide for themselves if the code had been followed. The code was not enforced by the coalition partners, but by the voters themselves.

The Institute of Global Ethics' National Project on Campaign Conduct was successfully piloted in Ohio and Washington States in 1998 and 2000, where participation by candidates increased from 55 percent to 85 percent and 33 percent to 75 percent, respectively, over those election years. In the 2002 elections, the project expanded to forty congressional districts in nineteen states, including the 11th District of Georgia. In the 2002 elections, 11 Congressional and Gubernatorial codes were signed, including the 11th District of Georgia. This included Congressional and Gubernatorial races in our neighboring States of Tennessee and South Carolina.

The Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct hopes to build on the success of the 11th Congressional District code signing to encourage candidates to run issue driven campaigns that spur reluctant voters to turnout and reengage in the process. For more information on the Georgia Project on Campaign Conduct, please contact Carol Pierannunzi at 770-423-6464 or cpierann@kennesaw.edu.