Senate hopeful Herschel Walker (R) was quick to respond when a bombshell report dropped Tuesday on his opponent, incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), accusing him of threatening to evict poor residents from low-income housing owned by his church.
The report, written by investigative reporter Andrew Kerr at The Washington Free Beacon, revealed that in addition to threatening evictions in the Columbia Tower at MLK Village in downtown Atlanta, Warnock’s church affords him a lavish housing allowance of $7,417 monthly.
Since early 2020, 12 eviction lawsuits have been filed against residents of Columbia Tower at MLK Village, which Warnock’s church owns 99% of.
The average rent owed by the residents clocked in at just $125 a month.
The building has received over $15 million in taxpayer funding.
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) October 11, 2022
Warnock serves as the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, drawing a salary in addition to his housing allowance, and the church is the 99% owner of the Columbia Tower building — which is described as a home for people with “mental disabilities” or who have been struggling with homelessness.
According to Kerr’s report, 12 eviction lawsuits were filed since February of 2020 — during which time Warnock was criticizing Republicans for opposing a rent and mortgage payment moratorium.
“Unemployment benefits have expired, rent is due today, and many Georgia families are at risk of eviction in the middle of a pandemic,” Warnock tweeted on August 1, 2020. “My opponents are supposed to be serving the people in Washington, but they’re clearly only concerned with serving their own interests.”
Unemployment benefits have expired, rent is due today, and many Georgia families are at risk of eviction in the middle of a pandemic.
My opponents are supposed to be serving the people in Washington, but they’re clearly only concerned with serving their own interests
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) August 1, 2020
As Kerr noted, less than three weeks after tweeting his disappointment that Republicans were not in favor of a rent moratorium, a lawsuit was filed over past-due rent in the amount of $28.55.
The church appears to have the finances available to cover the relatively minimal past-due rents in question in the 12 lawsuits — which total $4,900 — given that Ebenezer Baptist Church closed out 2021 with over $1 million on hand.
Ebenezer Baptist Church owns the building through a network of shell organizations connected to the Ebenezer Building Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity that delegates all management duties to the church and identifies Warnock as its principal officer in its IRS Form 990 filings.
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) October 11, 2022
Residents were reportedly unaware that the church even owned the building — which appears to be by design. It was only after digging through a number of layers that Warnock’s name appeared in an official capacity: “Ebenezer Baptist Church owns the building through a network of shell organizations connected to the Ebenezer Building Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity that delegates all management duties to the church and identifies Warnock as its principal officer in its IRS Form 990 filings.”
“They treat me like a piece of s***. They’re not compassionate at all,” Vietnam veteran and Columbia Tower resident Phillip White, 69, explained, saying that the building had moved to evict him twice. The first time he paid the back rent — $179 — plus $325 in fees.
Warnock’s opponent, former NFL running back Herschel Walker, responded to the report in a tweet on Tuesday morning.
“I have never known a preacher that likes abortion even after birth, won’t pay his child support and evicts poor people to the street. I will pay the $4500 in past due rents listed in this news article to keep @ReverendWarnock from evicting these people,” Walker said.
I have never known a preacher that likes abortion even after birth, won’t pay his child support and evicts poor people to the street. I will pay the $4500 in past due rents listed in this news article to keep @ReverendWarnock from evicting these people. https://t.co/IqSBIWUnLU
— Herschel Walker (@HerschelWalker) October 11, 2022
