PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Board of Ethics on Monday sued a political committee and a nonprofit supporting Jeff Brown’s bid for mayor and accused Brown of violating the city’s campaign finance law by illegally coordinating with those groups, which are supposed to operate independently from his campaign.
Citing an “extensive and elaborate scheme to circumvent the city’s campaign contribution limits,” the board asked Common Pleas Court Judge Joshua Roberts to issue an emergency order prohibiting the political group ― a super PAC called For A Better Philadelphia ― and the nonprofit, which has the same name, from spending money to influence the May 16 primary election for mayor and to cancel any planned television advertising or other efforts to support Brown’s campaign.
The board is also seeking $162,000 in fines to be paid jointly by the two groups for repeatedly violating the city’s campaign finance laws as part of the alleged scheme. That would be the largest-ever financial penalty for violations of those rules.
Matthew White, a Ballard Spahr attorney representing both groups, said in court that they would agree to an order temporarily blocking them from making new expenditures because they had already ended their efforts to influence the election. But White said the groups objected to the broader accusations in the case.
The judge then granted part of the board’s request and issued an order temporarily blocking new political expenditures by the groups. He told both sides to return April 24 for a full hearing on the matter.
The board’s legal actions pursuing the groups backing Brown’s campaign are the first public confirmation of its investigation into campaign finance activities related to Brown, which The Inquirer first reported last month.
Brown, a ShopRite proprietor and first-time candidate running as a government outsider, is a front-runner in the crowded race for the Democratic nomination, and Monday’s events represent a significant escalation of the controversies surrounding the moneyed interests backing his mayoral bid.
Brown campaign spokesperson Kyle Anderson said in a statement that the lawsuit is “nonsense” and amounts to “a disagreement on campaign finance between the lawyers.”
”The bottom line is that Jeff is fighting for change and a new direction for Philadelphia, and that message is resonating,” he said. “We have complied with the law and neither we, nor the voters, will be distracted by this nonsense.”
For a Better Philadelphia is an independent expenditure committee, which is a type of political group that is allowed to accept donations that are larger than the city’s contribution limits so long as it does not coordinate with a candidate. This year, the contribution limits are $6,200 for individual donors and $25,200 for organizations.
Shane Creamer, executive director for the Board of Ethics, said Brown coordinated with the groups because he “engaged in extensive fundraising” for the nonprofit arm of For A Better Philadelphia. Creamer said the board told the super PAC on March 30 to stop making expenditures while it investigated that alleged coordination.
“This, I think, arguably is the worst type of coordination, where the candidate is directing donors directly to the outside spending group and getting money to the spending group directly — in this case to a ‘dark money’ group so the public doesn’t even know it’s happening,” Creamer said.
The Board of Ethics contends that Brown’s alleged coordination means the super PAC is not independent from Brown’s campaign and that spending on behalf of Brown by the super PAC or the nonprofit would therefore be an in-kind contribution to his campaign.
Those in-kind contributions would then be subject to the city’s limits on the size of campaign donations. That would mean Brown’s campaign is effectively benefiting from contributions well in excess of what the city allows.
For A Better Philadelphia is the first organization to play a role in a Philly mayor’s race while exploiting a loophole in the city’s campaign finance laws that allows super PACs to keep their backers secret by funneling its money through nonprofits.
Campaign finance reports showed that three nonprofits donated $2,975,000 to the super PAC supporting Brown last year, accounting for 96% of the PAC’s fundraising in 2022 and 2023. That included more than $2.4 million from the nonprofit arm of For A Better Philadelphia, which was registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State last year.
The rest of the “dark money” appeared to come from two established super PACs based in Washington: MAP USA and Patriot Majority USA. But Creamer said Monday that even the money that passed through those D.C.-based groups originated in the nonprofit arm of For A Better Philadelphia. It is not yet clear why the nonprofit would have passed that money through those separate groups.
The board, in the filing, said Brown served as a planner and keynote speaker for fundraising dinners, with tickets going for $100,000, held by the nonprofit in August and September. The August dinner brought in more than $1 million.
People attending the dinner were given the option of donating to the nonprofit or to the super PAC. Nine gave to the nonprofit, three to the super PAC.
The board’s filing lists an extensive string of communications about fundraising between Brown; his deputy campaign manager, Olivia Scanlon; and David Maser, an attorney who serves as chair for both the super PAC and nonprofit.
The board also said a local professional sports team that is not identified in the court filing contributed $250,000 to the nonprofit and that “an entity controlled by one of the sports team’s collaborators had already contributed $150,000″ to the nonprofit.
The filing said Maser reached out in November to the Brown campaign to broker a meeting between the team, Brown, and members of the campaign. Emails obtained by the board show Maser and Jimmy Cauley, Brown’s campaign manager, scheduled a meeting for early January at Brown’s campaign headquarters.
Before launching his campaign, Brown was the CEO of Brown’s Super Stores, which contributed $1.25 million to the nonprofit in three donations in January, February, and March.
Brown’s opponents in the mayor’s race attacked him Monday following the revelations and have been critical of him benefiting from anonymous donors.
“Jeff Brown is running one of the most unethical campaigns in Philadelphia history,” said Jared Leopold, a spokesperson for Allan Domb’s campaign. “It’s time for Jeff Brown to come clean to Philadelphians about who donated to his dark money organization and what promises he made behind closed doors to secret donors.”
