End Citizens United (ECU) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown. The complaint alleges Brown illegitimately used a political action committee that was marketed to help elect Republicans to Congress to instead retire his old campaign debt. This scheme is an attempt by Brown to rely more heavily on big-money donors.
“Sam Brown’s scheme represents a new frontier of misleading donors and taking advantage of higher contribution limits for his self-benefit,” said Tiffany Muller, President of ECU. “This malicious misuse of his PAC is unprecedented and if left unchecked, would set a dangerous precedent increasing the power of ultra-wealthy donors. We strongly urge the FEC to investigate this corruption and hold Brown accountable.”
Nevada
January 3, 2024
Sam Brown, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, uses the military every chance he gets by using his military rank as “Captain” before his name. That was given to him from a hospital bed after only serving in the military for two years.
The rank of “Captain” is usually earned after five years of honorable active duty. However, his superiors felt bad and gave him Captain to help with his taxpayer’s disability payments from his hospital bed, and he was discharged from active duty.
Brown also uses the branch of service he was in and his photos in uniform to capture your vote.
DOD policy for service members is contained in Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, Political Activities for Armed Forces Members. DOD policy encourages armed forces members to carry out the obligations of citizenship while keeping with the traditional concept that members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity. All armed forces members, including active-duty members, members of the reserve components not on active duty, and retired members, are prohibited from wearing military uniforms at political campaigns or election events. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2208332/service-members-civilians-bound-by-dod-rules-during-election-campaigns/
Nothing is wrong with being proud of your military service. Still, this becomes an issue when you constantly preach about your services with no substance to move our Nation and Nevada forward.
Brown continually talks about his burns but fails to tell Nevadans that if he didn’t violate his General Orders and left his post, he would not have received burns, and his actions had his driver KILLED!
How did Sam Brown, a U.S. Senate candidate, receive his injuries? — in Nevada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSfwQdjCUzY&t=1105s
In addition, Brown commented that he would not encourage his children to join the military.
Is this a real patriot or a disgusting opportunist who will use any means necessary to get your vote?
Steve Sanson
President of Veterans In Politics International
USMC Disabled Gulf War Veteran
The violations:
In July 2022, Brown created Duty First, a new PAC that was described as a “committee that will work to help Republicans take back Congress.”
In August 2022, Brown changed Sam Brown for Nevada to Sam Brown PAC, converting it to a PAC and making it affiliated with Duty First. After, Sam Brown PAC transferred over $300,000 in primary debt to Duty First.
Though there is no mention of repaying debt in Duty First’s contribution form, $55,000 of the $91,500 was used to repay Brown’s debt from the 2022 Senate campaign. According to CNN’s analysis, “fewer than 2% of [Duty First’s] funds went towards candidates.”
Under existing FEC rules, Duty First could assume Brown’s campaign debt, but would be subject to his 2022 debt campaign retirement restrictions; by allowing the PAC to assume the campaign debt and solicit campaign donors over limits, a significant loophole undermining the FEC is created.
In addition, Duty First appears to be raising funds without disclosing the donors’ funds will go towards debt retirement—another violation against the FEC regulations. Instead, the campaign transferred the debt into a PAC with an expressly stated purpose of electing other Republican candidates. There is no mention of paying off Sam Brown’s 2022 Senate debt.
