Nevada election officials are asking a “dark money” group that ran ads attacking former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Giunchigliani to disclose their donors and register as a Political Action Committee (PAC).

Nevada Secretary of State Deputy Secretary for Elections, Wayne Thorley, sent a letter to a group called “United for a Better Tomorrow” on July 11, requesting that the group register as a PAC and file regular campaign finance reports detailing contributions and expenditures made by the organization.

The ads appeared just days before early voting in the state’s June primary, which Giunchigliani lost to fellow Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak. The ads accused Giunchigliani of being a “career politician” and to call her office and tell her to avoid taking an automatic scheduled small pay increase ($42.03 an hour to $43.29). The group never filed any registration paperwork with the state, federal election officials or the IRS before running the ads.

In the letter, Thorley said the group’s politically themed advertising either “directly or indirectly” promoted a political candidate and thus is required to register with the state or face financial penalties.

“Based on the political advertising activity of United for a Better Tomorrow, it appears the organization meets the definition of a PAC and is therefore required to register with the Nevada Secretary of State’s office and file periodic contributions and expense reports,” Thorley wrote.

The letter requested a response by July 27 to discuss a resolution or explain why the group shouldn’t be considered a PAC under Nevada law.

United for a Better Tomorrow is retaining the Washington D.C. law firm of Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock — which has ties to a pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC — as legal counsel and requested a 30-day extension to respond to the letter, which Thorley said the office granted.

SOS United Correspondence_July 2018 by Riley Snyder on Scribd