Dark money? Ads attacking S.C. senator ‘paid for’ by organization that doesn’t exist
During the days leading up to a runoff election for an Horry County state senate seat, local residents have been inundated by advertisements attacking the incumbent, Sen. Luke Rankin.
But the group claiming to pay for those ads doesn’t exist, and no can say for sure who is actually funding the effort.
Rankin, who has held the seat since 1993, is trying to fend off challenger John Gallman in the S.C. state Senate District 33 Republican primary, with the runoff scheduled for Tuesday.
Since the runoff was announced after neither candidate garnered 50 percent of the votes, numerous newspaper, online, television and radio ads have accused Rankin of being “a gift to liberal Democrats” and attacking his stances on abortion, gun rights and illegal immigrants.
Each of these ads included a disclaimer that it was paid for South Carolina Conservatives Fund LLC with an address of 1 McNeese Drive in Greenville, S.C.. But that name is not registered with the S.C. Secretary of State’s office.
Greenville County property records show that address listed to Coopdew LLC, which is registered by Dewey Lemons, who owns a pawn shop in that area. Lemons, reached by The Sun News Thursday, confirmed that he owns that property, but said he rents it to two women out of Philadelphia who are planning to open a computer shop that’s been delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Lemons added that he’s never heard of Rankin and guessed that “somebody just pulled that address out of their hat.”
The ‘Real Rankin’
The website that many of these advertisements direct voters to visit is therealrankin.com, which implores residents to “vote in the Republican runoff election to finally stop Luke Rankin’s 27 years of liberal voting.”
A note at the bottom of that website states that it was paid for by American Principles Project, a nonprofit group based in Arlington, Virginia, that advocates for human life from contraception, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and freedom to practice religion, among other stances, according to its website.
The organization is registered with federal Internal Revenue Service as two separate entities: one as a 501(c)(3), which would be prohibited from trying to influence an election, and a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, which are allowed to make contributions to political action committees.
The nonprofit’s executive director, Terry Schilling, did not return multiple messages seeking comment.
Rankin, who’s countering that many of the claims in these advertisements are false, told The Sun News that he believes the funding for these advertisements traces back to Nextera Energy, a Florida-based energy provider bidding to take control of Santee Cooper, because Rankin doesn’t want to sell the state-owned utility service.
Rankin’s conclusion is based on Gallman paying for services with a Florida-based campaign consultant. Gallman has paid more than $55,000 to Mobilize the Message LLC, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, according to his public campaign disclosure form. The listed headquarters for the two entities are on opposite ends of Florida’s northern and southern borders, according to Google Maps.
Justin Greiss, a representative from Mobilize the Message, wrote in a statement that they’re thrilled to be working with Gallman and accused Rankin of trying to “grasp at straws” to cover his record with Santee Cooper.
Greiss denied having any connection to Nextera or South Carolina Conservatives Fund LLC, noting that “(d)rawing conclusions like this shows Luke Rankin is about to lose his seat.”
Gallman as well as his campaign advisor and representatives from Nextera Energy have not returned requests for comment.
‘Dark money’ in S.C. politics
John Crangle, the former executive director of Common Cause South Carolina, which advocates for transparency in campaign finance laws, said the state has a major issue with untraceable campaign donations because laws don’t limit the amount political action committees can spend and don’t require disclosure of donors to those committees.
The “dark money,” which refers to political spending from an undisclosed source, is rampant in South Carolina, Crangle said, though it usually goes to help incumbent candidates, so the anti-Rankin spending is unusual.
Comprehensive disclosure of campaign contributions is important, Crangle argued, because it shows who is supporting which candidates, and that support can impact a legislator’s actions in the General Assembly.
If Gallman wins, then Rankin would be the second consecutive legislator serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to lose after a reported influx of dark money.
A state Grand Jury report focusing on longtime S.C. political consultant Robert Quinn Sr. revealed that one Quinn client — the S.C. Association for Justice, a trial lawyers’ group — secretly funneled more than $200,000 to defeat state Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time, according to reporting from The State Newspaper.
Martin wanted to put caps on jury payouts in civil lawsuits, which the trial lawyers opposed. Quinn’s firm “created a front entity for the (trial lawyers’) money called Better Future for Our Community,” the report said. “Those attack ads were successful against Sen. Martin and he was defeated.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 11:59 AM.
