OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Elections are less than a month away and by now voters have probably seen dozens of mailers, television, radio and even YouTube ads supporting or opposing a candidate.
For a lot of people, the ads can get to be a bit much. But there are plenty of voters whose minds can be changed with a well-placed ad.
Some of those ads are funded by the candidates' campaigns — but not all of them.
In the last month, some of the most prolific spenders have been Political Action Committees (PACs), which have racked up nearly $900,000 in expenditures according to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
“Many people know the term 'dark money.' Maybe they don’t know what it refers to but we are talking about — are there donations that simply do not have a record that we can trace back to a source?" said Gavin Geis with Common Cause Nebraska. "In this election cycle, we are seeing a lot of that money being dumped into Nebraska’s elections.”
Common Cause Nebraska works to bring more transparency to Nebraska politics and a big part of that mission is finding how money is influencing our elected officials.
Geis says spending by PACs has grown exponentially in the last decade and he says there is something unusual about this year’s elections.
“To see PACs dominating political spending isn’t weird. But what is weird is seeing these new PACs that really didn’t exist before this election cycle come out upfront in how much they are spending,” he said.
One group, in particular, could be described as the big spender of Nebraska’s 2022 elections: the Nebraska Federation for Children.
If you haven’t heard of the group you probably aren’t alone.
The PAC was just formed in December of 2021 but it has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising and campaign expenses, but where did that money come from?
“There are definite limits on how far Nebraskans can really go in finding out where the money comes from that is dominating our elections,” said Geis.
We can track Nebraskans who donate to the PAC and its received funding from notable donors like Governor Pete Ricketts and Gubernatorial candidate Jim Pillen.
But most of its funding is coming from its parent organization, the American Federation for Children, and the source of that funding is nearly impossible to find.
“Where that research stops is looking at where that money originally came from. Yes, you can see the name of the entity that gave the money but tracking where their money came from is nearly impossible,” said Geis.
Most groups won’t spend that kind of money without looking for something in return, but dark money groups like the American Federation for Children are not required to disclose their donor information.
There isn’t much a voter can do to get that information and Geis says if you are concerned about who is influencing a candidate the best thing you can do is ask the candidate themselves.
“'Are you going to represent me if I vote for you or the person that is writing you your checks?' It's uncomfortable. It's a hard question to ask, but it's really important when we look at campaign finance and whether our elections are truly democratic and representative of Nebraskans.”
LEARN MORE: Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission
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