Last week, End Citizens United (ECU) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown, calling for an investigation into potential illegal coordination between his 2022 campaign and a super PAC that was set up by Brown’s top allies. The complaint alleges that Brown financed his 2022 super PAC exclusively through campaign donors, and then the PAC spent “soft money” promoting his campaign in violation of federal law.
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Daily Beast: Pay Dirt
Roger Sollenberger
02/16/24
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Playing with house money. Nevada Republican senatorial hopeful Sam Brown is accused of unlawfully coordinating with a super PAC during his failed 2022 primary bid, according to an FEC complaint from watchdog End Citizens United, obtained exclusively by Pay Dirt.
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“Sam Brown is a walking campaign finance violation,” End Citizens United president Tiffany Muller said in a statement to The Daily Beast, alleging Brown “repeatedly violated anti-corruption laws” intended to prevent wealthy donors from exerting outsized political influence.
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“It appears that he organized a scheme to channel his big donors to a super PAC that supported his campaign in an effort to circumvent federal limits on campaign contributions,” Muller said.
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The complaint, which the group filed with the FEC on Wednesday evening and lives online here, asks regulators to investigate evidence that Brown was involved in funding that super PAC, “Citizens for Nevada,” which supported his candidacy. FEC records show that all of the super PAC’s donors were also maximum donors to Brown’s campaign. Additionally, the super PAC’s sole fundraising consultant also worked for the Brown campaign, which was by far its largest client; one of the two members of that consulting firm is now the financial director for Brown’s 2024 campaign, the complaint says.
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Candidates and campaigns—which have hard limits on how much money individuals can contribute—may not coordinate with super PACs, which have no such limits.
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“The logical explanation for how CFN’s donor base consisted entirely of Campaign donors is that either Mr. Brown or [the consulting firm] provided donor names and contact information to CFN,” the complaint states.
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Last year, a relatively little-known Nevada billionaire and Brown campaign donor made headlines after pouring millions into a new pro-Brown super PAC.
Las Vegas Sun: Group alleges GOP Senate candidate in Nevada broke campaign finance rules
Casey Harrison
02/16/24
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The seven-page complaint alleges Brown either directly or by proxy funded a Super PAC called Citizens For Nevada, which in turn spent money to fund his campaign, allegedly in violation of federal campaign finance law.
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In a statement, End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller called Brown a “walking campaign finance violation” and is urging the FEC to open an investigation into the matter.
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The complaint alleges Citizens For Nevada was entirely funded by four individuals and two groups. Each of those individuals had previously given the maximum ($5,800) permitted to Brown’s campaign for the primary, FEC records show.
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But the complaint contends a Brown campaign affiliation beyond 2022. It says Falicia Mandel, one of the two members listed under MWE’s Arizona business filings, is serving as the finance director for Brown’s campaign.
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The close ties and ongoing relationship between the campaign, the PAC and MWE, the complaint asserts, make it highly likely Brown or MWE shared donor information because the campaign and its finance consultant are the primary custodians of campaign donor data.
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In November, End Citizens United filed a different complaint against Brown.
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That complaint alleged Brown “illegitimately” used a different political committee, the Duty First PAC, which Brown said was formed to help elect Nevada Republicans to Congress, to retire debt from his 2022 run.
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End Citizens United alleges Duty First appeared to have raised funds without disclosing to donors the funds would go toward debt retirement, which they contend is an FEC violation, among other violations.
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