Outside spending soared ahead of Primary

The ads take viewers to a dark place with ominous background music.

The narrator wastes no time introducing the villain: A Republican candidate for Oklahoma House or Senate painted as a liberal in disguise.

They’re alleged to be soft on crime, fiscally irresponsible or controlled by special interests. Photoshopped images of President Joe Biden often appear in the background.

“Sometimes they’re just full out lies about the other person,” said Jarod Mendenhall, the superintendent of Muskogee Public Schools who is challenging incumbent Rep. Neil Hays in the House District 13 Republican Primary.

The Oklahoma Federation for Children Action Fund, a social welfare organization that supports school voucher programs, has spent $31,672 since May 28 on digital advertisements and mailers opposing Mendenhall, Oklahoma Ethics Commission records show. Mendenhall does not support expanding educational tax credits, stating in a Ballotpedia survey response that most who apply for the credits are already sending their children to private schools.

“You just sit back and think that’s pretty incredible that we have a system that’s designed to where you can spend an inordinate amount of money towards something that’s a falsehood,” Mendenhall said.

Spending by outside political groups, many funded by dark money organizations, has soared ahead of the June 18 primary election. While the spending is not illegal, critics argue it can harm voters who are bombarded with messages from questionable sources.

From April 15 to June 15, politically involved nonprofits spent $2.7 million to influence Oklahoma voters, more than three times what was spent over a similar period in 2020. About $400,000 of the total has been spent on digital advertisements, commercials and mailers opposing candidates, while the rest has gone to support candidates, according to an Oklahoma Watch review of Oklahoma Ethics Commission filings.

The outside spending exceeds the $2.6 million candidates used on campaign expenses over the two-month period. A statewide Republican primary for a vacant Corporation Commission seat and dozens of legislative primaries in the Republican and Democratic parties are on the June 18 ballot.

Oklahoma campaign finance laws limit individual contributions to candidates at $3,300 per election and political action committees at $5,000 per election. But 501©4 nonprofits may spend unlimited amounts on political messaging so long as they do not coordinate with candidates.

On June 3, the Virginia-based conservative advocacy organization Make Liberty Win spent $132,000 on “field distribution of literature” for House District 23 Republican candidate Derrick Hildebrant. Oklahoma Conservative Renewal LLC, a social welfare organization that posts no information about its mission on its website, spent $263,000 on opposition mailers and advertisements from May 22 to June 3.

Brendan Glavin is the Deputy Research Director at Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks campaign finance and lobbying data. He said many social welfare groups, including Make Liberty Win, do disclose their donors to the FEC but are largely funded by dark money organizations.

As outside political spending has skyrocketed over the past decade, Glavin said state House races have become increasingly nationalized.

“They’re accumulating vast sums of money and spending it with a common message across the whole country,” he said.

Frustrated by skyrocketing in outside spending in the 2022 gubernatorial election, Gov. Kevin Stitt established a task force to study campaign finance and election threats in July.

The task force did not recommend limiting dark money spending, calling the matter a federal issue, but suggested increasing caps on candidate and political party donations as a solution to curb outside spending. Members also urged the state to ramp up enforcement of an existing rule requiring independent expenditure entities to have an Oklahoma-based treasurer and provide an active and legitimate phone number.

“Without significant change, the state is at risk that independent expenditure entities can assume the role of primary campaign communication entity as opposed to candidates,” the report reads. “Meaningful change must be considered by the Oklahoma Ethics Commission to reverse this potential.”

Ethics Commission members discussed the report at its May meeting and could take action on the recommendations in the coming months. Proposed Ethics Commission rules are subject to legislative and gubernatorial approval.