By Nicholas Pigeon

Michigan Campaign Finance Network
 

Lansing (October 16, 2024) – As widely reported by The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Detroit News reporter Craig Mauger, Future Coalition PAC, which has raised $3 million from the Elon Musk-funded 501(c)(4) “Building America’s Future,” has been printing and airing advertisements calling presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband “The Ultimate Pro-Israel Power Couple.” The advertisements also feature Bill and Hillary Clinton alongside them.

According to the October quarterly campaign finance filings, the Super PAC spent $483,373.02 in support of Elissa Slotkin and $66,680.00 in opposition to the same candidate in the month of October. The listed treasurer of Future Coalition PAC, Ray Zaborney, founder of Red Maverick Media, is also a payee under the PAC’s campaign filings. All of the print and digital advertisements center around President Harris except for one featuring both Harris and Slotkin as the "Pro-Isreal team we can trust," although the ads are designated as Pro-Slotkin.

The Super PAC has gained notoriety for airing ads that seem to contradict each other by linking Harris to both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian stances, depending on the targeted audience.

The fact that the majority of these advertisements are listed as supportive of Representative Slotkin (and Kamala Harris) is troubling in two ways. First, it calls into question the accuracy of data on independent spending for or against any candidate. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) and other watchdog organizations are frequently asked to aggregate spending data for candidates or ballot measures. However, spending with deceptive intent complicates this task and risks producing inaccurate data.

Future Coalition PAC appears to be one of the few groups producing ads that seem to support a candidate but are clearly designed to dissuade voters. This could mark the beginning of a new trend aimed at covertly delivering negative messages, making it harder for voters to identify the true source of the advertisements. This challenge is compounded by the fact that the 501(c)(4) organization that gave $3 million to Future Coalition PAC is not required to disclose its donors, potentially until next year. Such undisclosed funding is what MCFN refers to as “dark money.”

            Watch: Executive Director Pigeon Explains Dark Money During Sunshine Week to the House Ethics and Oversight Committee

Another issue highlighted by these advertisements is the lax standards governing independent expenditure committees. These committees can raise and spend unlimited amounts in elections as long as they operate independently.

The primary rule for independent expenditure committees is that they must not coordinate with a candidate or use “express advocacy.” In practice, this means that as long as an ad does not explicitly state “vote for” or “do not vote for” a candidate, it is permissible and does not have to be reported as an in-kind contribution to the candidate it benefits.