Las Vegas Sun: Nevada GOP Senate hopeful accused of breaking disclosure rules
The front page of Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun details Sam Brown’s efforts to hide his leadership role in a radical anti-choice organization from his Personal Financial Disclosure report in apparent violation of federal law – and the new complaint he’s facing over his shady actions.
Brown failed to include his position as Chairman and President of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition, a spin-off of a national anti-choice group that “has advocated for some of the most stringent anti-abortion laws across the country,” on his legally required disclosure reports.
Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno filed a complaint against Brown with the Department of Justice seeking an immediate investigation and “all appropriate penalties and corrective action.” According to the complaint, the Ethics in Government Act stipulates any individual who knowingly and willfully fails to file required information in a PFD can face civil penalties of up to $71,316.
Read more about Brown’s continued efforts to conceal his radical anti-choice views and record from Nevadans below.
Las Vegas Sun: Nevada GOP Senate hopeful accused of breaking disclosure rules
By Casey Harrison
Key points:
- Nevada Democrats are seeking sanctions against Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Sam Brown for failing to disclose on financial disclosure forms his previous role as executive board chairman for a nonprofit whose national chapter has advocated for some of the most stringent anti-abortion laws across the country.
- Brown, a retired U.S. Army captain, was named chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition’s executive board last November and has been listed in secretary of state filings as the nonprofit corporation’s president since March.
- However, Senate rules — which are independent of requirements set by the Federal Election Commission — mandate a candidate must “report all compensated and uncompensated positions” held at any time during the preceding two calendar years through the date of filing, including positions currently held as an officer, director, trustee, general partner, proprietor, representative, employee or consultant of any business enterprise, nonprofit organization, labor organization or educational institution.
- Brown was still featured prominently on the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition’s website, both on its homepage and its “about” section until shortly after the Sun reached out to Brown’s campaign Tuesday. The only press release under the website’s “news” tab is a Nov. 20, 2022, piece announcing Brown as the organization’s chairman.
- As of Wednesday, the website’s homepage featured a quote from late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. The “about” section also removed mention of Brown.
- When the Sun contacted the phone number listed on the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition’s website, an automated system stated it “could no longer take calls at this time,” and hung up.
- Seeking sanctions against Brown is Nevada State Democratic Party chairwoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who wrote Wednesday in her complaint to the Department of Justice that the matter should be “immediately” investigated.
- Nationally, however, the Faith & Freedom Coalition lists “respect for the sanctity and dignity of life, family and marriage as foundations of a free society,” and does so by speaking out in the public arena “on behalf of Christian values” and by influencing legislation at “every level of government.”
- In a radio interview with KMZQ-AM on Nov. 30, 2022, Brown told host Kevin Wall the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition was a “spinoff” of the national branch…
- The national Faith & Freedom Coalition released statements in support of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision via the June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, as well as a 2021 law passed in Texas banning most abortions after six weeks gestation.
- “Our ultimate objective is to protect every unborn child in the womb, but that won’t be achievable in any way,” Reed told Politico in December. “So you pass the most strongly pro-life legislation you can and you do the same thing we did with Dobbs, which is you eat the elephant one bite at a time.”
- Since the launch of his most recent senatorial campaign, Brown has been reluctant to talk publicly about his views on a national abortion ban, an issue that helped Democrats salvage a Senate majority in 2022 despite predictions of a so-called red wave.
- Brown also attended a gala held by Nevada Right to Life in September in Reno, according to photos of the event obtained by the Nevada Current, an online news outlet.
- The Sun requested to interview Brown about the launch of his campaign in August. His campaign has yet to respond to the request.
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