Dallas Mayor Eric 闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 conservative political association has raised over half a million dollars since he created it in late 2023. But only a fraction has been spent directly in campaign contributions to candidates or to Republican political committees, according to tax records reviewed by 四虎影院.
闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 (RMA) has paid a little over $10,000 directly on candidates and $6,500 to a handful of local conservative political organizations, according to publicly available records filed with the IRS.
The RMA listed on IRS documents 鈥渢otal amount of reported expenditures鈥� of more than $330,000. That included consulting, legal and fundraising fees. But those expenditures have no other details beyond who got the money and when.
鈥淭hat sounds like a pretty paltry sum going to support candidates,鈥� Michael Beckel, the research director for a cross-partisan political reform organization called Issue One, told 四虎影院. 鈥淎nd that really raises questions about what the strategy is here or what they're doing with the funding if they're not spending it on politics.鈥�
Beckel focuses on money in politics 鈥� and has been following the trends for more than a decade.
Other experts 四虎影院 interviewed said that the amount spent on candidates may not be that unusual for such an organization, but that there could be transparency concerns around 鈥渄ark money鈥� groups.
Short of asking the group and consultants what work they're doing for candidates, Beckel said tracking where the money ends up is 鈥渂asically a closed door.鈥�
四虎影院 reached out to the RMA and both 闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 City Hall staff and his staff at Troutman Pepper Locke 鈥� the law firm where he works 鈥� but did not receive comment about what the funds are being used for.
Funds directly to candidates
Johnson, who served for years as a Democrat in the Texas Legislature, switched to the GOP just months after winning reelection for a second mayoral term in 2023. Then he created the RMA.
The RMA was formed to 鈥渟upport the election of Republican mayors and candidates across America, to build and expand upon their [successes] in office, and to advocate for Republican leadership of American's cities,鈥� according to its public IRS reports.
The group often backs candidates with press releases and posts on its social media accounts 鈥� and touts their victories when they happen.
But few candidates have gotten money from the association. The RMA listed its contributions to seven political candidates and two local political committees.
In Virginia Beach, the RMA gave Bobby Dyer鈥檚 mayoral campaign $1,000, and a Republican committee in Barre City, VT. received $500.
Tony Perry鈥檚 bid for mayor of Middletown, N.J., got $5,000 from 闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 political association. Bruce Rector鈥檚 mayoral campaign in Clearwater, Fla. and the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee both received $1,000 from the RMA.
When Brian McDonald was running for mayor of Oxnard, Ca. the RMA pitched in $800. And $5,000 went to Sid Edwards, a candidate who successfully ran for mayor in Baton Rouge, La.
In Chesapeake, Va., the RMA gave Mayor Rick West $1,000 for his reelection campaign.
A month before the reported expenditure was paid, WHRO 鈥� a Virginia-based NPR affiliate 鈥� reported
West鈥檚 stepbrother had run into a legal issue 鈥渨hile building on a property in Georgia.鈥�
And the city attorney did the work.
According to documents obtained by WHRO, the Chesapeake city attorneys made calls to Georgia officials 鈥� and West鈥檚 stepbrother wrote a thank you note to the city officials 鈥渟aying his dispute had been resolved.鈥�
West, who was running for a second full term as mayor, told WHRO at the time that he 鈥減robably should not have done that鈥� 鈥� but maintained asking for legal advice wasn鈥檛 inappropriate and blamed the then-city attorney for 鈥渄oing the work and not telling West if he was overstepping.鈥�
四虎影院 reached out to West for comment about if he sought out the RMA鈥檚 help during his campaign and whether WHRO鈥檚 reporting into his stepbrother鈥檚 dealings with city officials was still accurate, but did not receive comment before this story was published.
I am honored to have the endorsement of Newport Beach Mayor William O鈥橬eill and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who have demonstrated that common-sense government works for their cities. They spent the day with me at the polls and for a rally at our office. We ended the day visiting鈥�
— Councilwoman Victoria Seaman (@VictoriaDseaman)
In Las Vegas, Johnson flew out personally to help Victoria Seaman鈥檚 mayoral campaign last year,
Along with Johnson, former Newport Beach, Ca., Mayor William O鈥橬eill also campaigned with Seaman. 闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 organization paid $5,000 to an organization called Visit Newport Beach for 鈥渃onsulting fees鈥� months before the O鈥橬eill and Johnson showed up in Las Vegas for Seaman鈥檚 campaign.
Visit Newport Beach is a nonprofit organization 鈥渦nder contract with the City to position Newport Beach, California as a visitor and conference destination,鈥� according to the
四虎影院 reached out to the law firm O鈥橬eill works for to ask whether he knew about the RMA鈥檚 expenditure to Visit Newport Beach and if so, what the money was used for. O鈥橬eill did not immediately respond to the request.
Seaman lost the election.
The association also gave $1,000 to Bruce Rector鈥檚 campaign for mayor in Clearwater, Fla. Rector also sits on the RMA鈥檚 Advisory Board.3
鈥楤asically, a closed door鈥�
四虎影院 asked for information about other ways the organization was supporting conservative politicians at the local level, but did not receive comment back from Johnson or the RMA.
Beckel said when politicians form organizations to support likeminded candidates, they 鈥渉ave a lot of latitude on how they spend those funds.鈥�
鈥溾�ut presumably, if you're trying to support candidates across the country in these types of elections, you would be spending a lot more money from your fund to do that,鈥� Beckel added.
闯辞丑苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 association has reported spending almost $180,000 on consulting fees, according to IRS documents. That includes money for legal consulting, public relations and fundraising 鈥� and nearly all of it went to a handful of consulting firms.
The RMA files reports with the IRS as a 527 political organization. These types of groups have different ways of using funds to support politicians.
The most direct way is to give money to a candidates鈥� campaign. There are seven expenditures showing money going directly to a candidate and two for conservative committees across the country.
They can also buy ad time for candidates in other states 鈥� and engage consultants to, presumably, do campaign work for candidates.
But these groups also have different reporting requirements. Brett Kappel is an attorney Harmon, Curran, Spielberg and Eisenberg, a law firm specializing in giving legal advice to nonprofit organizations.
He told 四虎影院 some 527 organizations manage to avoid some of the state reporting requirements.
鈥淪o, there are some political organizations that raise money from the public that only file with the IRS,鈥� Kappel said.
And these types of political organizations have systems in place that make it hard to track exactly where the money is going. Kappel says national political groups often utilize multiple bank accounts to stay in compliance with different state election laws.
But they鈥檙e not required to report expenditures by type of bank account.
鈥淲hat they do is they aggregate all the money coming in and all the money going out of all the accounts, so you cannot tell鈥hether any one contribution is coming in, what it was, which account it went into and what it was used for,鈥� Kappel said.
鈥淭here's been a continuing problem from a transparency point of view.鈥�
Keppel said groups like the RMA don't always give money directly to candidates.
"...Because then they would have to register and file reports in either the state or jurisdiction where they're making those contributions," he said.
The support they do give, he said, might be in the form of consultants or advertising.
What may be a standard practice among these types of political organizations, can leave a void when it comes to transparency, experts say.
Figuring out exactly where the money goes once someone contributes to a group like the RMA is 鈥渂asically a closed door,鈥� Beckel said.
鈥淢aybe some of those same consultants would be forthcoming with you in interviews. But the paper trail can only get you so far,鈥� he said.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
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