A voter advocacy group filed a complaint today with the Federal Election Commission against Republican Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown, alleging “potential illegal coordination” between his 2022 campaign and a political spending group that spent so-called soft money to promote Brown.
Brown, a retired U.S. Army captain, has earned the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the official fundraising arm of Senate conservatives and is considered a front runner for the GOP nomination.
Brown ran to unseat Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in 2022 but finished second to former attorney general Adam Laxalt in that year’s primary.
The complaint was filed by End Citizens United, a group that describes itself online as “Democratic activists fighting for true campaign finance reform.” The group has twice endorsed U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, the Democratic incumbent Brown is running against.
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.
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.
“It appears that he organized a scheme to channel his big donors to support a super PAC that supported his campaign in an effort to circumvent federal limits on campaign contributions,” Muller said in the statement.
A request for comment from Brown’s campaign was not immediately returned.
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.
Three of those donors made contributions to Citizens For Nevada in excess of the federal limit to political committees, according tothe records.
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.
The complaint also notes Citizens for Nevada paid just one vendor for fundraising consulting, Arizona-based MWE Group LLC.
Brown’s campaign was MWE’s largest client during the 2022 election cycle, giving the group about $150,000.
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.
“Considering that Mr. Brown’s campaign was by far MWE’s largest client and the close ties between MWE personnel and Mr. Brown have continued through today, there is a strong likelihood that information passed from the Campaign to CFN (Citizens For Nevada),” the complaints says.
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.
CNN reported in August that fewer than 2% of Duty First’s funds went toward candidates and about $55,000 of a $91,500 fund was used to repay campaign debt.
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.