Anti-Barresi ‘Dark Money’ Group Fails To File Ethics Reports

Information Scarce on ‘Dark Money’ Group in Superintendent Campaign
By: CLIFTON ADCOCK, Oklahoma Watch

An independent expenditure group that paid for television advertisements opposing State Superintendent Janet Barresi in last month’s primary has not filed required spending reports with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

The nonprofit Oklahomans for Public School Excellence, created in May, failed to file the paperwork before the June 24 election as required by state ethics rules. Groups that spend more than $5,000 in political advertising during a campaign must file pre-election reports, and violations can result in civil penalties of more than $50,000, said Lee Slater, director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission.

If the group accepted donations from others to buy the ads, it must also disclose all of its donors. No report of that kind has been filed.

Little public information is otherwise available about the so-called “dark money” political group, which opposed Barresi in her race against Joy Hofmeister, a former State Board of Education member. Hofmeister won and will face the winner of a Democratic runoff on Aug. 26 — Freda Deskin or John Cox.

But Oklahoma Watch determined through other records and interviews that the consultant running Oklahomans for Public School Excellence, Stephanie Milligan, is vice president of a political consulting group run by well-known lobbyist and political consultant Chad Alexander.

Alexander had met with Hofmeister in April 2013 to discuss her fledgling campaign, and that meeting, revealed in an email from Hofmeister that was made public earlier this year, led to charges by Barresi’s campaign that Hofmeister was violating campaign laws.

In her email, Hofmeister said she regarded Alexander as someone who was “probably (a) better fit for the independent campaign.” State law prohibits a candidate from coordinating with an independent expenditure group, called “dark money” groups because they often do not have to disclose their donors and can spend unlimited amounts on campaigns. Barresi’s campaign, which had obtained the Hofmeister email earlier this year, submitted it and other emails to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater’s office alleging violations.

Read the complete story on OklahomaWatch.org