Days after losing her second consecutive congressional race in November 2022, Irene Armendariz-Jackson of El Paso created a so-called super PAC to help elect other candidates who would favor border security efforts.
She called it the Boarder Security Coalition, then fixed the misspelling five days later to Border Security Coalition, according to Federal Election Commission records. Her position as president of the super PAC got her air time on Fox News and other conservative media outlets.
But FEC records show that the Border Security Coalition has raised little money and spent none of it on its stated purpose, supporting candidates who back heightened restrictions to prevent migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
The largest chunk of the money raised by the coalition has gone to pay for credit card fees, according to the super PAC’s own records filed with the FEC. Those reports were filed by Thomas Datwyler, a Wisconsin man who has served as treasurer of other campaigns and committees that have been repeatedly fined by the FEC over the past two years for violating federal campaign finance laws.
An expert on federal campaign finance law said that FEC records from Border Security Coalition raise a number of concerns.
“To have spent basically every cent that came in and to have none of it go to actual election activity is a red flag,” said Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C.
Armendariz-Jackson did not respond directly to a series of questions from El Paso Matters about the operations of Border Security Coalition, instead providing a statement saying she didn’t benefit personally from the super PAC.
“The resources raised have been used to establish the super PAC because nothing is being done for free; the only one not receiving any pay is me because all of my efforts have been 100% for free,” she said in the statement.
She said she has made her congressional campaign a priority since deciding last year to run for Congress again, and will determine the future of Border Security Coalition after the election.
Datwyler did not respond to requests for comment from El Paso Matters.
Little money, big fees
Border Security Coalition has reported raising $14,000 between November 2022 and March 31, 2024, and spending just over $13,000 in that time. The super PAC reported having $110 remaining in the bank at the end of March, even though it reported raising about $1,000 more than it spent since its creation. That is one of numerous discrepancies in the report.
At the end of 2023, Border Security Coalition reported having negative $15 cash on hand, one of only 10 of the more than 1,300 super PACs reporting to the FEC to have a negative balance.
The largest reported expenditures by Border Security Coalition have been $4,860 in credit card fees to WinRed and Anedot, two online platforms that collect donations on behalf of political committees and charge a fee of about 4% of money raised.
If all of the $14,000 raised by Border Security Coalition came through those two platforms, the fees would have totalled less than $600, a fraction of the amount claimed by Border Security Coalition.
Noti, of the Campaign Legal Center, said other political committees in the past have overstated fee payments to fundraising platforms as a way of masking commissions paid to professional fundraisers, which often are in the range of 30%-40%.
The fundraiser’s cut is taken off the top by the donation platforms as they distribute money, he said.
But instead of reporting the fundraising fee separately, some candidates and political committees reported them as a payment to the platforms, Noti said.
“It was a little more common in prior election cycles. To be clear, it’s not legal,” he said.
WinRed, which is the largest fundraising platform used by Republican candidates and conservative groups, has reminded customers that it is their responsibility to accurately report the share of revenue going to fundraisers, Noti said.
“We did generally see that sort of activity stop after WinRed took that step,” he said of political committees falsely labeling fundraising commissions as credit card fees.
Border Security Coalition didn’t list any payments to fundraising consultants in its reports to the FEC. Armendariz-Jackson didn’t respond to a question from El Paso Matters about what companies the super PAC used for fundraising, or who actually received the money attributed to credit card fees.
Unlike political candidates, super PACs like Border Security Coalition can accept unlimited amounts of money from people, corporations and organizations, “and spend it directly on elections,” Noti said.
Border Security Coalition hasn’t spent any of its money on elections, according to its filings with the FEC.
Itemized expenditures in federal campaign reports filed by the super PAC don’t match the totals it claims to have spent. Border Security Coalition claims to have spent $13,000, but the itemized expenses listed by the committee total less than $11,000.
Despite the problems with the reports filed by Border Security Coalition, Noti said it’s unlikely the FEC will investigate or sanction the committee.
“At these levels of spending, it’s very unlikely that the FEC would initiate any sort of action or review,” he said.
Armendariz-Jackson’s congressional campaign reports
Armendariz-Jackson, who lost in landslides to Democrat Veronica Escobar in 2020 and 2022, is the Republican nominee again this year for Texas’ 16th Congressional District.
She has reported raising just under $30,000 so far. Through the end of 2023, her fundraising total placed her in the bottom 25% of fundraising among all House candidates nationwide, according to FEC records.
Datwyler, who also serves as the treasurer for Armendariz-Jackson’s congressional campaign, has filed reports stating that the campaign spent more than $5,800 for credit card fees on fundraising platforms during the 2023-24 election cycle through March 31. If all of the money raised by the Armendariz-Jackson campaign went through one of the fundraising platforms, the fees would have been less than $1,200.
During the 2021-22 campaign, Datwyler listed more than $83,000 in credit card fees to fundraising platforms for the Armendariz-Jackson congressional campaign, accounting for more than 20% of all expenditures. It was more than twice what the campaign reported spending on advertising.
If all of the $375,000 in reported donations from individuals to the Armendariz-Jackson campaign in 2021-22 came through a fundraising platform, the platforms would have charged about $15,000 based on a 4% commission.
Armendariz-Jackson won 36.5% of the vote against Escobar in 2022, after gaining 35% of the vote in 2020. She was the only Republican seeking the 16th Congressional District nomination in the March 2024 primary.
Thomas Datwyler: Treasurer with a history
Both Border Security Coalition and the Armendariz-Jackson congressional campaign list Datwyler as treasurer. Appointment of a treasurer is a requirement for raising money, and the treasurer is responsible for ensuring that candidate and political committees comply with federal campaign finance laws.
According to Datwyler’s LinkedIn profile, he serves as treasurer and accountant for numerous candidates and political committees. He lives in Hudson, Wisconsin, a town of about 15,000 near Minnesota’s Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
FEC records show that Datwyler’s company, 9Seven Consulting, was paid more than $2.6 million by federal candidates and committees during the 2021-22 campaign cycle, according to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign funding and spending. That includes $6,563 from Armendariz-Jackson’s 2022 congressional campaign.
He was listed in 2023 as the campaign treasurer for controversial former New York Congressman George Santos, but Datwyler’s attorney said he never served in that role. Datwyler’s own attorney later rescinded that disavowal and said Datwyler had misled him about his relationship with Santos.
In August 2023, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced a criminal investigation of a PAC run by Datwyler in support of a lieutenant governor candidate. Fitch’s office did not respond to an El Paso Matters inquiry about whether the investigation into violations of state campaign finance laws is still active.
Since 2022, 10 political committees for which Datwyler serves as treasurer have been fined more than a combined $300,000 by the FEC for violating federal campaign finance laws, records show.
“Datweiler has been the treasurer for a disproportionate number of committees that have gotten in trouble with the FEC for their reports,” said Noti, the campaign finance expert.
“When you see a pattern of committees associated with a particular treasurer having significant compliance reporting issues, it does raise questions about the way that treasurer is conducting the business,” he said.
