Republican lawmakers question political group over late financial disclosures

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah political action committee will be fined for missing financial disclosure deadlines after a pair of Republican state lawmakers called for an investigation into its late reports.

State Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, and Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, asked the lieutenant governor's office to investigate the Checks and Balances PAC on Wednesday for missing the April 18 deadline to disclose political expenses before the party primaries later that month.

The political action committee, which is also known as the Rule of Law PAC, has supported Republican primary opponents of both Brammer and Teuscher, sending out mailers supporting Kelly Smith in Brammer's district and helping Scott Stephenson collect signatures to challenge Teuscher.

"Utahns deserve honest elections and timely disclosure," Brammer said in a statement. "When a PAC spends money to influence Republican primary voters, it has a legal obligation to tell voters who is funding that effort and how the money is being used. We are asking for immediate review because transparency is not optional, and voters should never be asked to make decisions in the dark."

Teuscher said he suspects the group is targeting him and Brammer for their work on court reforms, and the lawmakers described the PAC as "Democrat-funded" because several donors to the group are or have been Democratic candidates for office, or associated with liberal causes.

"We are now being attacked by liberal activists who want the courts to stop conservative policy they don't agree with," Teuscher said. "Republicans deserve to see the disclosures from any organization seeking to influence their vote, as required by law."

Leaders of Checks and Balances, which was created last year, acknowledged fault in filing late. An accountant contracted by the PAC in March said there were issues with accessing the portal meant for filing disclosures. Once that issue was resolved, an illness led to further filing delays, according to the chair of the PAC's board.

"A required filing was missed due to an unexpected health issue affecting our compliance team, and we are working to correct it immediately," Alex Dorius told KSL. "There was no attempt to hide our donors or conceal our activity. Our contributors have been publicly disclosed, and our expenditures are reflected in filings with the lieutenant governor's office, consistent with the PAC's mission and objectives."

Dorius said Checks and Balances is "dedicated to supporting Republican candidates who uphold an independent, impartial judiciary and the rule of law."

The PAC filed its April 18 disclosures on Wednesday, after being contacted by KSL.

"Our office received the disclosure report from the Checks and Balances PAC after the filing deadline, and they will be assessed the standard fine for a late filing," Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson told KSL through a spokeswoman.

Rob Axson, the chairman of the Republican Party, called on GOP candidates to "mitigate the influence of Salt Lake City progressives in our primary elections."

"Democrat candidates are so out of touch that they feel the need to sabotage Republican primaries, and appear to be doing so illegally," he said in a statement.

Brammer said he learned that Checks and Balances was supporting Smith, his GOP primary opponent, when he received mailers supporting her candidacy that said they were paid for by the Rule of Law PAC. He said the mailers bore the same lettering and formatting as Smith's campaign literature, and called for more transparency from his opponent because she had not disclosed any contributions since April 10.

Candidates have seven days to disclose any contributions they receive during the last month before an election.

Smith told KSL she didn't know of the mailers supporting her before they hit mailboxes in the district and said she was not involved with the PAC that sent them.

"My campaign has submitted our donations received in accordance with state statute," she said. "With over 80 donations from individuals, those are being processed by the lieutenant governor's office. I am proud that so many contributions have come from individual Utahns who believe in our campaign and want stronger representation for this district."

Henderson said her office isn't aware of "any trouble filing reports on the disclosures website," but said election officials were "working to resolve the issues with reporting transactions."

"In light of that, we will consider bulk transaction uploads compliant as long as our office receives them by the filing deadline," she said. "The disclosures website is ancient and nearly beyond repair. We are hopeful the Legislature will appropriate the necessary resources for a much-needed upgrade."

Stephenson, Teuscher's Republican opponent, disclosed receiving an in-kind donation from Checks and Balances in the form of signature gathering worth $6,264.84 on June 3.

The candidate told KSL he was "incredibly proud of the campaign we've built and the broad support we've earned from people across our community who believe in our vision and our priorities."

"Every contribution supporting this campaign has been reported and disclosed as required by law," he added. "We have run a campaign grounded in transparency, accountability and accessibility, and I am grateful for every individual and organization that has chosen to stand with us. Our focus remains where it has always been: earning trust, communicating honestly and delivering results for the people we seek to serve."

Checks and Balances recently disclosed paying a company $12,699 for signature gathering in March. Stephenson's in-kind donation from the PAC appears to refer to about half of that money, but no other candidate has disclosed receiving an in-kind donation from the PAC or the signature-gathering company, leaving it unclear which candidate the remainder went to support.

Checks and Balances did not immediately respond to a request for comment about which candidate the rest of the money went to support.

Full expenditure reports for committees and candidates are due on Tuesday, a week before the primary election.

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