Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has presented its proposed factual findings and legal conclusions in a case that has the potential to set an important new precedent for campaign finance transparency in our elections.
In this rare Federal Election Campaign Action Act (FECA) citizen suit, CLC has uncovered a wide array of evidence that proves the “major” and indeed, overriding, purpose of Iowa Values, a PAC masquerading as a nonprofit, was to support the re-election of Sen. Joni Ernst in 2020.
By failing to register as a PAC and report its donors, Iowa Values concealed the sources and recipients of millions of dollars it raised and spent between 2017 and 2020 to help re-elect Ernst. In doing so, Iowa Values deprived CLC of information necessary to conduct its work and deprived voters of the right to know who funded Iowa Values' spending to influence a 2020 Senate election.
Despite being charged with upholding campaign finance law, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) routinely fails to investigate alleged violations of political committee registration and reporting rules — which is why so many groups assume they can violate those rules with no consequences.
CLC is now asking the District Court to consider the evidence we brought to light; a decision in CLC’s favor will make it harder for the FEC to shirk its enforcement obligations in the future.
How Iowa Values Broke the Law
Between 2017 and 2020, Iowa Values operated as a single-candidate political committee whose sole mission and purpose was to support Sen. Ernst’s 2020 re-election.
Through a discovery process involving depositions and thousands of pages of documents, CLC uncovered extensive evidence showing that Iowa Values dedicated almost all of its resources to a multi-year plan to support Ernst's re-election through data gathering and sharing, door-to-door canvassing, and Ernst-focused advertising.
Notably, the evidence shows that Iowa Values intentionally staffed its board and selected its vendors and consultants based on their pre-existing connections to and affinity for Ernst. It then invested in polling and modeling of the Iowa electorate to identify swing voters and what they care about and share this data with the Ernst campaign, and, then, use the data in its own efforts to target key voters with messages carefully designed to sway them to support Ernst and, ultimately, to vote for her.
In the months immediately leading up to the 2020 election, Iowa Values even established a companion super PAC, which it funded with more than 1.4 million dollars of dark money, and had the super PAC run ads expressly encouraging people to vote for Ernst and against her opponent — in an attempt to retain the façade that it was not a political committee itself. After this final effort, and Ernst’s success at the polls, it shuttered its operation.
As the organization stated in one of its own strategy memos, its “goal [was] first and foremost helping re-elect Senator Joni Ernst.” And it carried out its goal by, in its own words, “build[ing] a Joni firewall” with “the most critical segments of the electorate” and contacting them repeatedly through multiple methods to “burn in a favorable impression of Senator Ernst.”
Iowa Values financed these activities through the same fundraisers used by the Ernst campaign and affiliated groups. Ernst herself sometimes spoke with potential donors about giving to Iowa Values. Between 2018 and 2020, Iowa Values raised more than $3.7 million in dark money to help re-elect Ernst.
Federal campaign finance laws require an organization like Iowa Values, whose “major purpose” is campaign activity, to register with the FEC as a political committee and file regular reports disclosing its contributions, expenditures, and debts.
Iowa Values never did this. By failing to do so, it broke the law, concealing critical information about its sources of funding and the recipients of its spending in support of its efforts to re-elect Ernst. Iowa Values' failure to abide by the law harmed CLC and voters at-large who have a right to know who is spending money to secretly influence their vote.
Stepping Up to Demand Accountability Following the FEC’s Inaction
Campaign Legal Center has taken Iowa Values to court to obtain the transparency CLC and voters deserve, and ensure that in future elections, it’s harder for dark money groups to hide who’s really behind their election spending.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare that Iowa Values violated the law by failing to register and report as a political committee, and to order Iowa Values to provide CLC and the public with the information it illegally concealed regarding the sources of its funding and the recipients of its spending to help reelect Sen. Ernst.
The lawsuit also asks the court to impose an appropriate civil penalty against Iowa Values to be paid to the federal government.
Importantly, a decision by the Court holding Iowa Values accountable would also establish a powerful precedent for future bad actors that they cannot count on a dysfunctional FEC to allow them to evade campaign finance rules with impunity.
Why CLC Had to Go Beyond the FEC
CLC has sued Iowa Values directly over its violations of federal campaign finance law.
Typically, the FEC handles enforcement of FECA, and direct suits by plaintiffs like CLC are authorized only when the FEC fails to act, or when its decisions are unreasonable and thus “contrary to law.”
Indeed, CLC alerted the FEC to these violations more than five years ago in an administrative complaint it filed in December 2019. After waiting more than 190 days for the FEC to act on the matter, CLC sued the FEC in federal court over its delay.
On October 14, 2020, the court issued an order finding that the FEC’s failure to act on CLC’s administrative complaint was “contrary to law” and ordered the Commission to conform by taking action on CLC’s administrative complaint within 90 days.
The FEC still failed to act, and on February 11, 2021, the court issued an order declaring that the FEC had failed to enforce the law and that CLC had a right to sue Iowa Values directly over the violations.
This rare citizen suit is how CLC uncovered new evidence showing that Iowa Values was, in every sense, a federal political committee with the singular goal to re-elect Ernst.
Creating Better Enforcement of Campaign Finance Laws
The transparency of political campaigns is fundamental to the protection of our democracy.
The FEC has the important responsibility of enforcing campaign finance laws that keep our elections transparent and lawful. When the FEC fails to do its job, voters have less insight into who is shaping elections, and wealthy special interests can rig the political system in their favor by drastically manipulating the landscape of our elections and drowning out the voices of everyday Americans.
In a world where the FEC often falls short, Campaign Legal Center has stepped up to demand accountability and find new ways to compel enforcement of our laws.
The court must hold Iowa Values accountable so in future elections, voters know which wealthy donors and dark money groups are spending to influence their vote.
Your support helps continue to hold the FEC accountable and protect the transparency of our elections on behalf of the American people.