John Locher/AP
Nevada Republican Senate hopeful Sam Brown, a retired Army captain and Purple Heart recipient, stands in a campaign office Tuesday, June 14, 2022, in Las Vegas.
Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nevada Democrats are seeking sanctions against Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Sam Brown for failing to disclose on financial disclosure forms his previous role as executive board chairman for a nonprofit whose national chapter has advocated for some of the most stringent anti-abortion laws across the country.
Brown, a retired U.S. Army captain, was named chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition’s executive board last November and has been listed in secretary of state filings as the nonprofit corporation’s president since March.
A spokesperson for Brown’s campaign told the Sun in an email that Brown hasn’t been with the organization for several months.
“Sam has not done any work with the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition since May 2023, well before his campaign launch,” the spokesperson said. “Sam resigned from his position and we asked that he be removed from their website. It was strictly a volunteer position.”
However, Senate rules — which are independent of requirements set by the Federal Election Commission — mandate a candidate must “report all compensated and uncompensated positions” held at any time during the preceding two calendar years through the date of filing, including positions currently held as an officer, director, trustee, general partner, proprietor, representative, employee or consultant of any business enterprise, nonprofit organization, labor organization or educational institution.
Brown filed his candidacy July 10 and submitted his first personal financial disclosure (PFD) report Sept. 6, according to Senate records.
Candidates are not required to report positions held in any religious, social, fraternal or political entity, nor any positions held solely of an honorary nature. The Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition doesn’t fall into any of these categories.
Brown was still featured prominently on the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition’s website, both on its homepage and its “about” section until shortly after the Sun reached out to Brown’s campaign Tuesday. The only press release under the website’s “news” tab is a Nov. 20, 2022, piece announcing Brown as the organization’s chairman.
As of Wednesday, the website’s homepage featured a quote from late civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. The “about” section also removed mention of Brown.
When the Sun contacted the phone number listed on the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition’s website, an automated system stated it “could no longer take calls at this time,” and hung up.
Seeking sanctions against Brown is Nevada State Democratic Party chairwoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who wrote Wednesday in her complaint to the Department of Justice that the matter should be “immediately” investigated.
“Mr. Brown’s decision to conceal his leadership of this organization — which appears to be part of a larger pattern of disclosure-related violations — blatantly disregards those important objectives and is particularly alarming for someone who is running to become a U.S. senator,” Monroe-Moreno wrote. “I respectfully request that you investigate this matter and seek all appropriate penalties and corrective action.”
Monroe-Moreno further wrote in her complaint that Brown’s “seemingly brazen contempt for his public disclosure obligations” deprives voters of his private interests but also flouts federal law.
Candidates who knowingly or willfully fail to report information required by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 could be subject to a civil fine between $50,000 and $71,316.
Johanna Warshaw, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said the group filed the complaint to the Department of Justice, as opposed to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, because that is the body charged with investigating complaints against nonincumbent candidates.
Though Brown’s omission may be perceived as a minor ethics violation, candidate disclosure policies are designed to shed transparency on candidates vying for office, said Dan Lee, a political science professor at UNLV.
“You would be most concerned about having some sort of personal financial conflict of interest,” Lee said. “And that’s not as much of a concern for nonprofits, especially for a noncompensated position. But we still want transparency for people running for office because we want to know what groups these candidates are associated with before they get elected.”
The Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition makes no mention of abortion on its website, and instead states its advocacy for criminal justice reform,“helping Nevada families” by partnering with community organizations that “bring renewed investment into our communities and give Nevada families a choice for a better future,” and favoring legislation that would stymie human trafficking,
Nationally, however, the Faith & Freedom Coalition lists “respect for the sanctity and dignity of life, family and marriage as foundations of a free society,” and does so by speaking out in the public arena “on behalf of Christian values” and by influencing legislation at “every level of government.”
Timothy Head, executive director of the national Freedom & Faith Coalition, said at the time of Brown’s hiring to the Nevada chapter, “Sam is the definition of servant-leader, and we are honored that he has chosen to lead the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition as we work to educate, equip and mobilize Nevadans of all faiths.”
In a radio interview with KMZQ-AM on Nov. 30, 2022, Brown told host Kevin Wall the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition was a “spinoff” of the national branch, but was a different organization that focused on educating voters on candidates for “issues that are historically important to people of faith.”
“We’re not telling people who to vote for,” Brown said. “That’s not within the guidelines of what a 501(c)3 can do. We just remind people, ‘Hey, these are the positions the different candidates are taking.’ ”
Nevada secretary of state filings also list Jon Harbison as the Nevada Faith & Freedom Coalition’s secretary and Tim Parrish as its treasurer. Harbison, according to his biography with the national Faith & Freedom Coalition, serves as director of voter education, and Parrish, a former county GOP chairman, was named executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Virginia chapter in April.
Further, the group’s founder and chairman, Ralph Reed, has long been a champion of conservative politics.
The national Faith & Freedom Coalition released statements in support of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision via the June 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, as well as a 2021 law passed in Texas banning most abortions after six weeks gestation.
“Our ultimate objective is to protect every unborn child in the womb, but that won’t be achievable in any way,” Reed told Politico in December. “So you pass the most strongly pro-life legislation you can and you do the same thing we did with Dobbs, which is you eat the elephant one bite at a time.”
Mum on abortion
Brown, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and Southern Methodist University, is a Purple Heart recipient and served five years in the Army before earning medical retirement status in 2011. He was wounded by a roadside bomb explosion in 2008 while serving in Afghanistan. Brown has run several times for public offices in recent years but has never won an election.
With the support of establishment Republicans nationally, Brown is a top contender for the GOP nomination for senator in a field that includes Jeff Gunter, the former U.S. ambassador to Iceland, as well as former Assemblyman Jim Marchant, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Grady and others. The nominee will face incumbent Jacky Rosen, a Democrat, in the November 2024 general election.
Brown finished second in last year’s GOP U.S. Senate primary to former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt — who ultimately lost to incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto. Brown was also unsuccessful in a 2014 bid for the Texas House of Representatives.
Since the launch of his most recent senatorial campaign, Brown has been reluctant to talk publicly about his views on a national abortion ban, an issue that helped Democrats salvage a Senate majority in 2022 despite predictions of a so-called red wave. Democrats, including Rosen, have attempted to paint Brown as having extreme views on abortion.
In July, he told KSNV-TV he considers himself “pro-life” and sidestepped a question about whether he would support a national abortion ban. He said he does, however, support the right to abortion in instances of rape, incest or if the mother’s health is in jeopardy. His campaign website states he will oppose any bill that allocates federal funding toward abortion and will support federal judges “who understand the importance of protecting life.”
“As a nation and as a society, we must do better to encourage life-saving alternative options for women like adoption while providing better pre- and postnatal care support and family planning services,” Brown states on his website.
Brown added in the interview with KTNV he saw no pathway to federal or state abortion law changing. Access to the procedure is legal in Nevada up to 24 weeks gestation.
Brown also attended a gala held by Nevada Right to Life in September in Reno, according to photos of the event obtained by the Nevada Current, an online news outlet.
Nevada Right to Life’s website states it is a registered nonprofit organization that advocates for educational, charitable and legislative action that opposes issues of abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia and “other life issues,” and has endorsed several conservative officials in recent election cycles.
The Sun requested to interview Brown about the launch of his campaign in August. His campaign has yet to respond to the request.
