Regulatory authority questions financial reporting of Pro-Tester Committee

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In the second half of 2023, a secret political action committee began running television ads against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. There were no details about who funded Last Best Place PAC, how much money it had to spend, or who worked for the committee.

The secrecy continued until the first quarter of this year, when the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about Last Best Place PAC's lack of disclosure.

On Monday, CLC sued the PAC for disclosures that did not comply with federal election law. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign watchdog organization based in Washington, DC, has previously challenged political actors in Montana elections.

From September 2023 through February, Last Best Place PAC treated its independent spending related to media buys targeting Sheehy as operating expenses. Operating expenses are reported quarterly, meaning they may not appear in campaign reports for months. Independent spending must be reported within 48 hours.

CLC alleges that Last Best Place PAC spent $2 million on advertising targeted at Sheehy from September 2023 through the end of the year without properly disclosing those expenses.

The origin of the group's finances remains unclear. Last Best Place PAC has raised $12.5 million since September 2023 and spent $12.8 million through July to fight Sheehy.

As noted in the Montana Free Press' report on the PAC's spending in the Montana Senate race, the only person named in Last Best Place PAC's organizational statement is treasurer Dave Lewis of Helena. It's not uncommon for treasurers to be the only person named in organizational statements.

Montanans may know Lewis as former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot's budget director and as a former Republican senator. Lewis's donations were not tied to party lines.

The PAC's sole contributor is Majority Forward, a dark money nonprofit that does not disclose its donors.

However, Majority Forward's tax returns show that the nonprofit's president in 2019 (the most recent available return) was JB Poersch and that its board included former associates of Harry Reid, the Nevada senator who led a Democratic Senate majority for eight years until 2015.

Tax records show that Majority Forward has also supported other players in Montana's elections, including VoteVets, which is also campaigning against Sheehy, and Montana Native Vote, a voter participation group for indigenous peoples.

Poersch is also president of the Senate Majority PAC, an independent political action committee formed “to win Senate elections.” There is no “Senate Majority PAC” registered with the Federal Election Commission. Officially, the PAC is registered as SMP, but its treasurer, Rebecca Lambe, signs its SMP communications with the FEC as “Senate Majority PAC.”

Lambe is also treasurer of Majority Forward and a former Reid staffer. Majority Forward has donated millions exclusively to Senate Majority PAC and Last Best Place PAC this election cycle.

According to The Hill, Poersch is a confidant of Democratic Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York. In 2010, Poersch headed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.