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The Indy Explains: How Nevada campaigns get around campaign finance laws and coordinate with outside groups

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
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On Aug. 16, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak’s campaign posted an “IMPORTANT NOTICE” on his campaign website, with links to news stories about his general election opponent’s opposition to expanding Medicaid in the state and connections to conservative megadonors Charles and David Koch.

Eight days later, a group linked to the Democratic Governors Association released an ad comparing Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt to a “busy bee” working for the Koch brothers and opposing the state’s Medicaid expansion — citing the same news articles highlighted by Sisolak’s campaign.

Thinly veiled coordination between candidates and outside groups to dodge campaign finance laws isn’t a new (or illegal) trend, and it's one that nearly all top candidates in Nevada, including Sisolak, have engaged in with weeks to go before the start of early voting.

Although federal law is supposed to prevent candidates from coordinating with outside groups, campaigns typically get around the ban by publicly sharing information on their websites or social media accounts. Their efforts have been assisted by a 2015 decision by the Federal Election Commission that the use of publicly available information — such as candidate footage or information on a website — didn’t violate campaign finance law, even if done by an outside group that’s not allowed to coordinate with a campaign.

Laws in Nevada are even more lax — Wayne Thorley, the deputy secretary of state for elections, said in an email that “there is nothing in state law that prohibits coordination or communication between PACs and campaigns.”

In a statement, the Sisolak campaign said the site was "regularly updated" and that health care was a top issue in the race and that it was "important for voters to know Laxalt's record."

A spokesperson for the DGA said the organization didn't comment on advertising strategy.

Multiple candidates in high-profile races, including Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, have published similar research documents and lines of attack that have been quickly seized and used in ads by outside groups. Such a strategy is a natural progression of lax campaign finance laws said Kyle Kondik, a national political analyst at the University of Virginia.

“It makes sense that this would happen,” he wrote in an email. “(I)t’s a way to effectively get around coordination rules by doing what amounts to indirect coordination in plain sight.”

Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen, running against Republican Sen. Dean Heller, has also published a similar message with backup research documents that appear tailor-made for use by outside groups.

She launched a similar “IMPORTANT UPDATE” on her campaign website on Sept. 12, which contains links to several timestamped videos of Heller and President Donald Trump, as well two research documents that lay out a lengthy series of news articles on Heller and his votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

So far no ads have been published that closely echo that messaging, although a dark money, politically-oriented nonprofit called Majority Forward launched an ad Friday detailing Heller’s public statements and votes on the Affordable Care Act — including videos linked to on Rosen’s campaign page — and concluding that Heller “sold us out.”

"Dean Heller’s broken promise to protect Nevadans’ health care is the biggest issue in this race, and it’s important for voters to know how and why he sold them out," a Rosen campaign spokesperson said. "We update our website on a regular basis.”

No similar page exists on Heller's campaign website, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee echoes many of the campaign's attacks on its own website.

Big spending in the state’s U.S. Senate race is likely to continue — a tally by ProPublica finds that outside groups have spent around $19.6 million dollars in ads and other campaign expenses, and the total is likely to rise.

Other top candidates in the state’s top midterm races — Rosen, Heller Laxalt, Susie Lee — have also published several minutes of silent “b-roll” (generic footage) on their YouTube pages, a common tactic by campaigns to give Super PACs and other outside groups footage to use in ads.

Another anonymous YouTube account called "Tracking Democrats" has posted nearly two dozen videos of Sisolak at Clark County Commission meetings and campaign events.

At least one ad by the Republican Governor’s Association, released Thursday, used publicly posted footage from the Laxalt campaign’s YouTube page.

Disclosure: Steve Sisolak and Susie Lee have donated to The Nevada Independent. You can see a full list of donors here.
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