BURSTA shadowy super PAC that popped up just before the 2024 election was bankrolled by an opaque nonprofit, obscuring the ultimate source of the funds and raising “several red flags” for campaign finance experts.
The super PAC, Save Western Culture, drew scrutiny ahead of the election as it spent nearly $1.4 million on controversial ads, mailers and robocalls that boosted libertarian candidates and attacked Republicans in battleground Senate and House races, helping Democrats clinch some key seats.
A $1.6 million donation, the super PAC’s sole source of funding, from a newly formed Delaware-based nonprofit called Stop China Now Inc. was not disclosed until after Election Day. The donation came one day after books closed on the final campaign finance disclosure before the Nov. 5 general election.
Save Western Culture and Stop China Now share an address — a UPS box in Greenfield, Mass. Someone named Seth Martin is listed as both the super PAC treasurer and nonprofit incorporator, according to new business records obtained by The Hill.
The arrangement raises “several red flags justifying further investigation,” said Lee Goodman, a former Republican chair on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) who is now a partner at the legal giant Wiley.
“Under well established FEC rules, if a person or organization funnels money through an organization like Stop China Now for the purpose of funding a contribution to a Super PAC and avoiding disclosure of the original source of the funds, then the structured contribution constitutes making a contribution in the name of another person. That’s a serious violation that can carry both civil and potentially criminal penalties,” Goodman wrote in an email to The Hill.
Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer and deputy executive director at Documented, said the initial facts suggest this is a “straw donor scheme.”
“In a potential straw donor case, the central question is whether funds were intentionally funneled through a conduit to disguise the true source of the contribution,” Fischer said.
But the fact that Stop China Now is a nonprofit complicates that analysis, he said.
The FEC and law enforcement officials have dinged limited liability corporations, or LLCs, for political donations if the group does not appear to have legitimate revenue that would fund those contributions.
But nonprofits are primarily funded by grants, Fischer said, and it is plausible they could have received a grant in the two weeks between its formation Oct. 2 and donation on Oct. 17.
That introduces other legal questions, however, including one from Goodman about whether Stop China Now should be characterized as a “‘political committee’ because its major purpose was to receive and spend most of its funds to influence federal elections,” which would mean the group would have to register with the FEC and disclose its donors.
“Those donations are not automatically political contributions by the donors every time the organization makes a political contribution to a PAC from its general treasury,” Goodman said.
“But if the nonprofit serves as a conduit, or pass-through, for funds, then the nonprofit can be misused to facilitate a contribution in its name for the purpose of concealing the true contributor.”
Stop China Now has no online presence and does not appear to be involved in any activities outside of its political donation. IRS rules regarding political activities by 501(c)4 nonprofits are murky, but stipulate that while organizations may engage in elections, political activities cannot be their "primary activity."
Martin did not respond to request for comment from the The Hill via the super PAC's listed email address.
“When a nonprofit forms shortly before an election and makes a massive investment in political ads, it raises serious questions about whether its primary purpose is actually electoral politics,” said Michael Beckel, research director at Issue One, a nonprofit that aims to limit the influence of money in politics.
“The FEC has repeatedly said that donors cannot use shell game tactics to evade the limelight and public scrutiny that comes with making large political contributions and expenditures,” Beckel added.
Stop China Now provides a shield for the ultimate funder or funders of Save Western Culture’s provocative mission and strategy.
Save Western Culture aims to “promote traditional families and marriage,” “protect children from the LGBTQ gender mafia,” “eliminate foreign threats to our nation” and guard against “cultural degeneracy,” according to the super PAC’s website.
“Our country is falling apart. American values are in decline. Western values and culture are under attack,” the super PAC’s mission statement reads. “America is the last great protector of global freedom and the fortunes of western culture. We must save America.”
One Save Western Culture text claimed that “Mexican-born” Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) was sending resources to China, while another ad blasted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) using vulgar, sexually charged insults.
While both incumbents won their reelection bids, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) — dubbed “Lockdown Larry” in a robocall that also attacked him for saying President Biden won the 2020 election — lost his Senate bid against Sen.-elect Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), Trump’s pick for Labor secretary, and Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) were also unseated in two toss-up House races after being targeted by Save Western Culture.
Another super PAC target, Republican challenger Laurie Buckhout, lost her bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Don Davis in another toss-up race in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
Stop China Now incorporated in Delaware on Oct. 2, a week and a half before Save Western Culture registered with the FEC on Oct. 11 and two weeks before it contributed $1.6 million to the super PAC on Oct. 17.
The super PAC’s sole donation came one day after books closed on the final campaign finance disclosure before the 2024 election, meaning voters targeted by these ads had no way of knowing who was paying to influence their vote.
They still don’t.
“Pop-up super PACs that form, spend big money without disclosing their donors, and disappear shortly after Election Day are a scourge that violate the spirit of our anti-corruption laws that are designed to empower voters to know who is behind the campaign messages they see,” Beckel said.