ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — If you’re paying to see a political candidate, that doesn’t always mean your money is going to their campaign. 

Following a flurry of questions about transparency, a group that’s hosted and advocated for prominent Indiana Republicans has had to clarify that it’s not a political action committee and does not contribute financially to political candidates.

Ben Dallas, a Republican from Mishawaka, was surprised to learn not one cent of the $25 he paid to attend an event hosted by Indiana Call to Action went to local school board candidates he wanted to support.

“Where’s the money going? There’s money coming in, so where’s it going out?” Dallas said. “The point was to raise money for these three candidates running for school board. The (candidates) gave stump speeches.”

At least, he assumed the money raised would go to campaigns. When asked how he would react to learning that his money didn’t go to those school board candidates, Dallas “would feel ripped off.”

Indiana Call to Action has hosted events with local, state, and federal Republicans including Rep. Jim Banks, former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (while Hill was vying for a congressional seat), and current Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita. 

Rokita is also listed on Call to Action’s website as an “event partner,” but it’s not clear if he has any role with the group beyond speaking at an event. 

Now, Call to Action’s website has a disclaimer explicitly saying it is not a political action committee (PAC) and does not contribute to political candidates. 

Clifton French, who runs a conservative news site, was a featured speaker at the event Dallas paid to see. He says the disclaimer was only added after he raised questions about whether Indiana Call to Action was acting as a PAC, which he believed it is.

“I think that conservatives are no better than anybody else if they are not calling out the problems on their own side,” French said.

For example, in August 2023, Call to Action hosted Congressman Jim Banks, who’s running for U.S. Senate. 

The event poster features Banks’ campaign logo and labels him “the only true conservative running for Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat.” The event page also includes a link to his campaign website. However, the invite notes that admission only covers expenses for the event. 

Indiana law generally defines a PAC as an organization trying to influence an election or ballot question while accepting or spending more than $100 to do that. The federal threshold is $1,000.  

Indiana Call to Action is not a registered PAC, non profit, or business with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. The organization describes itself on its website as a grassroots organization with a mission “to influence policy at the local, state, and federal levels.”

“I find that it’s always helpful to dig carefully into the fine print of what a group claims they are and what they claim to be doing,” Andrew Mayersohn, a committees researcher with the campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets, said. “Do they explicitly claim to be helping candidates for office? Is the money that they’re raising going to those candidates, or are they phrasing things very, very carefully to say that they’re ‘helping fight back’?”

“There’s a very broad spectrum of groups out there that are doing some kind of activities that might be considered political by an ordinary person, that may or may not trigger disclosure requirements.,” Mayersohn said. 

A PAC registered in Indiana has to file a CFA-4, which details every dollar collected and how its spent, then that filing is made available to the public. 

Grassroots groups that are not registered as a PAC are able to bypass disclosure requirements, so it’s not always clear who’s funding them or how they’re using their money. 

It can create a transparency issue. 

“To have an accurate picture of who’s influencing your elections, who has the ear of your politicians and so forth, you ultimately need to know whose checks they’re accepting, right?” Mayersohn said. 

French believes it opens the opportunity for people to be tricked into donating cash that never goes to a campaign. 

“I absolutely believe that people who were going to (Indiana Call to Action events) thought that they were donating to campaigns. 100%,” French said. 

If a group claims to be raising money for candidates as a PAC, it should be registered with the FEC or the state Secretary of State’s office.