Groups that don’t have to publicly reveal their donors are behind a significant chunk of campaign ads airing ahead of Nevada’s June primaries, led by one tied to Gov. Joe Lombardo’s (R) re-election campaign, a Nevada Independent analysis found.
Advertisers have spent about $14 million on airtime so far this year, but more than one-third of those dollars are from groups whose funders’ identities aren’t public information, according to an analysis of data from the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
It reflects the increasingly prominent role that so-called “dark money” groups are playing in American elections, especially since a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling gave more leeway to corporate donations to these groups. These entities do not have to disclose their donors because they are registered as a 501(c)(4), a type of nonprofit that can raise unlimited funds and lobby on issues that exclusively “promote social welfare.”
They cannot engage primarily in political activity, a rule that groups can easily follow by not directly voicing support for a specific candidate and framing their ads as issue-focused. These groups often register as these types of nonprofits to evade scrutiny and backlash over who is bankrolling them.
