A political action committee accused of breaking election laws raised six figures for a Prosper Independent School District trustee election — but its secretive spending failed to unseat the two incumbents it aimed to replace.
Incumbent trustees Garrett Linker and Kelly Cavender each won reelection Saturday with about 53% of the vote despite the thousands of dollars supporting challengers Janette Church and Scott Bray.
The Accountable Leadership Committee raised more than $115,000 as of April 23 to support Bray and Church, according to the most recent campaign finance report available. It paid for digital ads, mailers, yard signs, door hangers and text message blasts backing the two challengers.
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Both Bray and Church have said they were not involved in the PAC’s activities.
Who is behind the effort is still unclear. Records show the PAC’s money came from three Washington, D.C.- and Virginia-based political entities all tied to conservative political spending across the country.
“I’m so thankful that our community saw through it,” Linker said. “They spoke up and said we’re not going to let something like this influence us.”
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In advertisements opposing Church and Bray, another political action committee, Lone Star Project, tied the two challengers to the PAC’s spending, writing “Don’t let secret dark money take over our public schools.”
“We were made to be the villains,” Church said. “I was made to look unethical, shady.”
Bray declined to comment. Cavender did not respond to a phone call or text message requesting comment.
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The Texas Ethics Commission has agreed to review allegations that the Accountable Leadership Committee violated state campaign finance rules by naming a treasurer after it had already spent money on mailers, texts, calls and a website. Texas election law prohibits committees from accepting or spending more than $500 without having a campaign treasurer.
Doug Charles, who filed the complaint against the committee, also alleged the PAC did not submit the right paperwork listing its out-of-state contributors and information filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Charles founded a now-inactive political action committee that supported Linker in Prosper ISD’s 2022 trustee race.
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The Accountable Leadership Committee lists Dustin McIntyre as its treasurer on campaign finance records and includes a Nevada phone number, an address with a Frisco mailbox and a Florida notary. Calls made to McIntyre’s listed number were not returned Monday.
The PAC’s website doesn’t give information on its mission or origins apart from the statement that it is “fighting for accountability and transparency.”
The ethics commission will review Charles’ complaint at 9 a.m. on Sept. 17 in Austin. The commission accepted jurisdiction on the complaint this month, which does not mean the commission found that a violation occurred.
