One Week “Under the Microscope”: Ernst Silent as Dark Money Ties Draw Condemnation & Raise New Questions About Illegal Campaign Activity

DSCC Digital Ads Hold Ernst Accountable for “Undeniable” Dark Money Ties and “Strong Evidence” of Illegal Activity

It’s been a week since a damaging Associated Press report revealed Senator Joni Ernst’s “undeniable” ties to a dark money group and “pretty strong evidence” of illegal activity, and unfortunately for Ernst, the bad news didn’t end there.

After the report earned wall-to-wall coverage across Iowa, drawing “swift condemnation” and calls from a watchdog group for an FEC investigation, Iowa Starting Line revealed that Ernst’s “overlap that potentially violates the law” is part of a “pattern of flouting” campaign finance law — including that her 2014 campaign “paid the largest civil penalty ever levied by the Federal Election Commission against an Iowa politician.”

Watch the DSCC’s digital ad holding Senator Ernst accountable here.

Read all about why Senator Ernst is “under the microscope” following reports of illegal conduct and shady dark money ties:

Iowa Starting Line: FEC Fine Against Ernst’s 2014 Campaign Largest For Iowa Politician

• Sen. Joni Ernst’s 2014 campaign paid the largest civil penalty ever levied by the Federal Election Commission against an Iowa politician, according to previously unreported commission records.

• In 2017, the FEC found Ernst’s first campaign for Senate broke the law by “knowingly accepting excessive and prohibited contributions, and by failing to timely refund excessive and prohibited contributions.”

• The FEC fined Ernst’s committee, “Joni for Iowa,” $14,500 for campaign finance violations.

• The Reports Analysis Division of the FEC found Ernst’s campaign “did not timely refund, reattribute, or redesignate” $37,190 in “excessive and prohibited contributions” during the 2014 general election fundraising cycle.

• In addition to the illegal contributions and failure to properly refund them in a timely manner, the FEC also found Ernst’s campaign did not accurately disclose debts on its original 2014 July Quarterly Report. An amended filing for the July report was filed on October 15, which included the debts, but was well after when such debts were supposed to be disclosed.

• Ernst’s fine of $14,500 is the largest FEC civil penalty ever doled out to an Iowa politician dating back to the earliest public records from 1980.

• On Monday, the American Democracy Legal Fund sent a letter to the FEC urging it to investigate the Ernst campaign in light of the AP’s report.

• “We are deeply concerned about allegations outlined in this bombshell report, particularly that Senator Ernst’s aides may have solicited an illegal $50,000 campaign contribution on behalf of the Senator’s re-election efforts,” said Brad Woodhouse, of the American Democracy Legal Fund (ADLF), in a statement.

Iowa Starting Line: ‘It’s A Pattern Of Flouting The Law’: Not Ernst’s 1st Brush With ‘Dark Money’

• Ernst’s relationship with questionable donors dates back to 2013 when she was a little-known state senator, not yet in the race for Tom Harkin’s U.S. Senate seat.

• On Friday morning, The Associated Press reported a potential violation of Federal Election Commission laws regarding Iowa Values, a political nonprofit, and Ernst’s reelection campaign.

• “It’s a pattern of flouting the law,” Link said.

• The AP dug into documents, emails and a strategy memo showing Iowa Values has done more than simply raise money and push messaging favorable to Ernst. The findings “also show Ernst and her campaign worked in close concert with Iowa Values,” according to the AP.

• Under FEC guidelines, the primary purpose of a political nonprofit cannot be to advance a particular candidate.

• But, as Starting Line reported in June, Iowa Values made its alliance known from the outset, writing in a press release it would “highlight the work Sen. Ernst has done to fight for Iowans and combat wasteful government spending.”

Bleeding Heartland: AP pulls back curtain on coordination between Ernst aides, dark money

• U.S. Senator Joni Ernst introduced a potential major donor to one of her campaign’s fundraisers, who later asked that person for a “an investment of $50,000” in a dark money group backing Ernst’s re-election, Brian Slodysko reported for the Associated Press on December 6.

• Slodysko’s scoop uncovered what may be illegal coordination between the Ernst campaign and the Iowa Values group, which can accept unlimited contributions without disclosing donors.

• It wasn’t the first time Ernst’s campaign ventured into a gray area.

• The AP story is a must-read in its entirety.

• Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center saw “’pretty strong evidence’ that the $50,000 request was for an ‘illegal donation,’” as well as a possible violation of the Iowa Values tax-exempt status.

• Former FEC general counsel Larry Noble, who later worked at the Campaign Legal Center, described the practice as “really questionable.”

Iowa Starting Line: Swift Condemnation After Report On Joni Ernst’s ‘Dark Money’ Ties

• Condemnation came swiftly Friday morning as news broke of Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s connection to the “dark money” group Iowa Values, and how it has helped raise money to bolster her 2020 reelection effort.

• “Using the same consultants to simultaneously run the campaign and a dark money group to boost her reelection is an egregious violation of the law,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, in a statement.

• [Ernst 2014 campaign manager and Iowa Values Executive Director Derek] Flowers did not offer any evidence to contradict the AP report in his statement to the news outlet.

• In its article, the AP cited a legal expert who said the connections between Iowa Values and the Ernst campaign “seems like pretty strong evidence” the two had coordinated to some degree.

• Progress Iowa, a progressive advocacy organization, called on Ernst to release her campaign’s internal communications in light of the “dark money” connection allegation.

• The latest fundraising quarter spelled trouble for Ernst and an October Morning Consult Poll showed her net approval rating had dropped 9 percentage points. She also is still dealing with the fallout from a September town hall where she said politicians should “sit down behind closed doors” to discuss changes to Social Security.

Daily Kos: Joni Ernst’s shady reelection efforts scrutinized

• Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican from Iowa, has been using an outside dark-money group for fundraising and has potentially been illegally coordinating with it, the AP reports. The group, called Iowa Values, was co-founded in 2017 by an Ernst consultant, Jon Kohan. Her personal campaign fundraiser, Claire Holloway Avella, also works for Iowa Values. Finally, another former aide who was recently hired by the group owns a condo that is used as Iowa Values’ address, and was used as the group’s address while he was still working on Ernst’s Senate staff.

• Dark-money groups like Iowa Values are supposed to operate separately from candidates. They are also supposed to function as nonprofit educational or issue groups that have activities beyond promoting individual candidates… In Ernst’s case, it appears to go well beyond fudging. The AP found a request from Holloway Avella for $50,000 to an individual Ernst had just met with and referred. 

• “It seems like pretty strong evidence” that the $50,000 request was for an “illegal donation,” while it’s “clear that the goal of Iowa Values is to reelect Joni Ernst, which may violate its tax-exempt status,” said a campaign finance attorney, Brendan Fischer, with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “This is a striking example of how secret campaign money operates. The big donors that bankroll a dark money group like Iowa Values remain hidden from the public, but the politician that benefits knows where the money is coming from.”

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