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Major out-of-state donors fund under-the-radar 'Drain the Swamp' PAC targeting Heller

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Election 2018
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A handful of prominent out-of-state conservative donors are funding a Nevada-based Super PAC opposing Republican Sen. Dean Heller’s re-election bid — though the group has taken little public action over the past five months.

A federal super PAC called “Drain the Swamp Nevada,” which filed its year-end financial report on Wednesday, has stayed mostly under-the-radar since filing registration paperwork with the Federal Election Commission in September. The group, which is registered to Las Vegas resident Robert Eugene Frank, didn’t return an email seeking comment about its purpose or planned activities during the election.

Though the group doesn’t have much of an online presence, it has left a trail of digital breadcrumbs hinting at its purpose. The PAC is connected with a website called draintheswampnv.com, which redirects to a fundraising page asking donors to ‘repeal and replace’ Heller over his vote last year against a straight repealing the Affordable Care Act.

According to a WHOIS domain search, the site was registered on Aug. 8, 2017 — the same day Danny Tarkanian announced his bid to take on Heller in the U.S. Senate Republican primary.

However, finding traces of the site on social media or on search engines is difficult — though the group has an option to share the site’s info on Facebook and Twitter, no posts on either social networking site appear to have ever been created.

The PAC reported receiving contributions of $31,100 between August 23rd and the end of the calendar year, primarily from a handful of well-known, out-of-state Republican donors, including:

  • $10,000 from Foster Friess, a Republican megadonor best known for donating millions to groups supporting former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential bid
  • $5,000 from Guy Bowers, a former detective and major donor to Republican candidates
  • $5,000 from Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcast mogul and major Republican donor
  • $5,000 from John Lodge, president of Houston-based Lodge Lumber
  • $5,000 from Jim Moyer, a Texas-based businessman. He gave $128,000 to Republican candidates and groups during the 2016 election cycle
  • $1,000 from Norman Rogers, a retired policy advisor for The Heartland Institute who has donated more than $200,000 to primarily Republican candidates.

The group reported spending just over $22,000 over the reporting cycle, including more than $3,000 to former congressional candidate and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) spokesman Niger Innis. Innis didn’t return a call seeking a comment.

According to his LinkedIn, the PAC’s treasurer, Frank, is “Co-Founder & Leader” of NevadansCAN, a group that says it supports “action-driven projects to defend and protect The American Constitution and traditional values at local, state and national levels.” The group attempted to dispute the results of the 2014 Republican primary in the state’s 4th Congressional District, where Innis was narrowly defeated by Rep. Cresent Hardy.

It also reported spending $9,000 for “Legal and Compliance Services” at Political.law, a boutique campaign finance firm founded by Virginia attorney Dan Backer, who served as treasurer and counsel to Great America PAC, a super PAC supporting President Donald Trump.

The group also spent more than $6,000 on “fundraising consulting” paid to “The Rainmakers,” a conservative fundraising firm that’s done work for former Rep. Michele Bachmann and Iowa Rep. Steve King.

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