Those tens of millions have, in flip, been used to pay petition gatherers, who’ve flocked to parking tons and public parks throughout the state. In March and April, in accordance to NADC information, Fairness for Girls paid $3 million to Vanguard Field Strategies, a Texas-based offshoot of GOP consulting agency Axiom Strategies that gives paid door-knockers and petition gatherers to Republican candidates and causes.
Restore the Good Life has no on-line presence. Tanner Lockhorn, a Lincoln man who was appointed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts to serve on a judicial nominating fee in 2021, is listed because the group’s treasurer. He didn’t reply to a number of requests for touch upon the supply of the nonprofit’s funds. 501(c)(4) nonprofits should not have to disclose any details about their donors.
In information filed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2024, a telephone quantity listed for Restore the Good Life seems to belong to Corben Waldron, the Nebraska state director of Axiom Strategies and a former advisor to Ricketts. Waldron didn’t reply to a voicemail in search of touch upon Axiom’s involvement within the nonprofit.
Neither Ricketts nor present Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen responded to requests for touch upon whether or not or not they donated to Restore the Good Life. Ricketts previously denied contributing to the group when it was lively within the 2022 basic election, in accordance to reporting from the Nebraska Examiner.
During the 2022 election cycle, Restore the Good Life funneled money into two now-defunct PACs to oppose major rivals to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen. Restore the Good Life was the only funder of Say No to RINOs PAC, which spent practically $250,000 on adverts opposing average republican gubernatorial candidate Brett Lindstrom.
The nonprofit additionally contributed $240,000 to Conservative Nebraska PAC, which was largely funded by members of the Ricketts household. That PAC spent greater than $1.8 million to oppose each Lindstrom and one other Republican candidate, Charles Herbster – in flip boosting Pillen, whom Ricketts endorsed.
501(c)(4) nonprofit teams are a standard automobile for darkish money to move into elections in state and federal races on behalf of each liberal and conservative candidates and causes. Defined by the IRS as “social welfare” teams, 501(c)(4) teams have way more latitude to foyer and marketing campaign for political points, as opposed to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
For instance, within the contentious Democratic primary race for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district, a 501(c)(4) group known as Western Futures Fund was a major donor to a PAC that ran greater than $2 million in adverts supporting Denise Powell, who went on to win the nomination, and opposing her prime competitor, John Cavanaugh. A separate 501(c)(4) nonprofit related to a Republican group additionally ran anti-Cavanaugh adverts.
Though 501(c)(4) nonprofits aren’t supposed to have political giving and advocacy as their “primary activity,” the rule is loosely outlined and barely enforced.