Last week, End Citizens United filed an FEC complaint against Sam Brown alleging potential illegal coordination between his 2022 campaign and a super PAC that appeared to be set up and funded by Brown’s top political allies for the sole purpose of supporting him in his failed primary run last cycle.
The complaint alleges that Sam Brown used campaign donors and consultants to exclusively finance the super PAC, which then made more than $35,000 in independent expenditures to promote his primary campaign against Adam Laxalt.. It seeks an immediate investigation into this potentially illegal arrangement, as Brown “is currently seeking federal office and may be engaging in the same practices once again.”
Nevada State Democratic Party Spokesperson Katharine Kurz
“Sam Brown’s repeated attempts to deceive voters and skirt campaign finance laws prove that he is nothing more than a career candidate and a fraud who will do or say whatever he needs to finally win an election. Brown’s shady actions deserve to be fully investigated.”
Read coverage about Brown’s shady dealings below:
Daily Beast: Playing with house money
Roger Sollenberger
- “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.
- The complaint 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.
- “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.
Las Vegas Sun: Group alleges GOP Senate candidate in Nevada broke campaign finance rules
Casey Harrison
- 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.
- A request for comment from Brown’s campaign was not immediately returned.
- Records show Brown was the only candidate supported by Citizens For Nevada and that the group spent more than $35,000 on mailer distributions for the Brown campaign.
- 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.
- 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.
- In November, End Citizens United filed a different complaint against Brown. 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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