A top Utah politician quietly funded anti-trans ads, prompting complaints. A year later, nothing’s come of them.

When the most competitive legislative seat outside of Salt Lake County — and the only one held by a Democrat — was slated to appear on ballots last year, ads attacking Rep. Rosemary Lesser for her votes against bills restricting the rights of transgender people began appearing in her Weber County constituents’ mailboxes and cell phones.

But the murky political action committee that accused Lesser of having “voted against Utah’s girls” and moving to “let men use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms,” indicated on required campaign finance reports that — despite launching a widespread campaign to unseat Lesser and her Democratic colleagues — it had not procured any funding, nor had it spent any money

The only names listed on publicly available disclosures were Wisconsin-based Thomas and Timothy Datwyler, a pair with a history of operating dubious groups tied to GOP candidates and causes.

So Lesser submitted an official complaint against Preserving Utah Values PAC to state election officers on Oct. 31, 2024 — five days before Election Day. The PAC ultimately reported that it received its first and only donation of $120,000 on Nov. 30, 2024, after Lesser lost her race to Republican Jill Koford. And the six-figure donation, the PAC’s filings said, was from one of Utah’s top Republicans: House Speaker Mike Schultz.

Now, more than a year and another election cycle later, the PAC has dissolved and has seemingly not been penalized for apparent campaign finance law violations flagged by Lesser and a progressive nonprofit, according to documents The Salt Lake Tribune has uncovered in the months since it began reporting on the committee.

A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson’s office — which oversees elections in Utah and initially referred the case to the attorney general’s office — indicated in a statement this month that it considered the case closed after Thomas Datwyler insisted in an email that the PAC’s filings were truthful and followed Utah law.

Neither Datwyler nor a spokesperson for Schultz responded to requests for comment.

After being sent a series of questions about his connection to the PAC last year, Schultz provided a brief statement through a legislative spokesperson: “Defending Utah values is the right thing to do. These principles are the foundation of who we are and I will always fight to protect them.”

On Monday, Lesser called Preserving Utah Values’ ads “vicious” and “disingenuous.”

“The source of the PAC’s funding was not revealed until weeks after the election. I was disappointed to learn that the only source of the PAC’s funds was Speaker Mike Schultz, who chose to hide behind this shadowy PAC claiming to protect Utah values,” the former representative wrote in a statement. “I contend that honesty and transparency are Utah values worthy of protection, and that Speaker Schultz failed in that regard.”

‘Failed to amend the financial report’

Utah has passed laws targeting transgender residents for four consecutive years. Schultz has helmed the House of Representatives for two of those years, and was House majority leader during the preceding two.

Those laws have barred transgender girls from playing school sports that align with their gender identity, prohibited gender-affirming care for transgender youth, restricted transgender people from using the bathrooms designated for their gender in government-owned buildings and banned transgender students from living in dormitories specific to their gender at public higher education institutions.

The PAC cited opposition to some of those bills by more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers, including Utah’s only openly LGBTQ+ legislator, in its attacks.

“Despite the expenses incurred by registering a website, paying for a massive texting program, and sending thousands of mailers, the 2024 general report does not indicate any contributions received or a listing of the expenses,” Lesser, who is also a physician, wrote in an email to Henderson’s office. That email was obtained by The Tribune through a public records request to the Utah attorney general’s office.

The complaint continues, “I am reporting this to bring this situation to [your] attention.”

Once political action committees receive or spend more than $750 in an election cycle, Utah law requires them to publish all contributions or expenditures in a “verified financial statement” over the course of five reporting periods.

Preserving Utah Values PAC filed a statement of organization with the lieutenant governor’s office on Oct. 8, 2024, and the next week registered a website domain, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. With most of its activities taking place in October, the PAC would have presumably been required to disclose its finances “seven calendar days before … the regular general election” — which was Nov. 5 last year.

A separate complaint sent by Alliance for a Better Utah the day after Lesser’s, and shared with The Tribune in response to the same public records request, said, “Having sent targeted text messages and mailers that were designed and produced, in addition to purchasing and registering a website, it’s more than likely that PUV PAC had more than $750 in expenditures within the most recent filing period, and thus also a corresponding amount in contributions to pay for such expenditures.”

Records indicate the lieutenant governor’s office shared those complaints with then-Attorney General Sean Reyes’ office two weeks later, on Nov. 13, 2024, after the PAC “failed to respond to our notice and failed to amend the financial report within seven days.”

Such a failure, under Utah’s election code, could result in a class B misdemeanor — which is punishable by up to six months in jail — and a $1,000 civil fine levied by the lieutenant governor’s office.

But penalties never came for the PAC linked to the Utah House speaker.

‘Considered resolved’

Instead, hours after The Tribune reported in early December that complaints had been referred to the attorney general’s office, the PAC, attempting to settle the accusations, responded to the weeks-old inquiries from the lieutenant governor’s office.

“Upon reading recent news stories related to our PAC, we looked back and found your email from November 4th,” wrote Thomas Datwyler in an email shared by the lieutenant governor’s office. “This was the day before the general election and as you can imagine we were extremely busy, we sincerely apologize for missing this and for not responding sooner.”

He insisted that, according to his interpretation of Utah’s election laws, “we are in compliance with the law.”

The Tribune first reported on the existence of complaints against the PAC on Nov. 1, 2024.

Earlier this month, a spokesperson for the lieutenant governor’s office said in a statement that it considered the case cleared up after Datwyler’s email.

“Last year, the Lt. Governor’s Office received complaints regarding the 2024 General report of the Preserving Utah Values PAC,” the statement said. “The Office reached out to the PAC and did not receive a response, so we referred the PAC to the Attorney General’s Office, as required by law. In December, the PAC responded and confirmed that their report was accurate, and that the next scheduled report would include the transactions and dates in question. At that time, the complaints were considered resolved.”

When asked how the lieutenant governor’s office confirmed the PAC’s report was accurate, a spokesperson responded with a copy of the correspondence from Datwyler.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined to comment on the outcome of the complaints.

During his time overseeing fundraising and spending for conservative groups across the country, Thomas Datwyler has repeatedly appeared in news reports for skirting campaign finance laws.

He serves as the treasurer for Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles’ campaign, the finances of which the FBI is investigating for fraud. Last year, Datwyler himself was accused of wire fraud by the Conservative Nevada Leadership PAC. And in September, a PAC run by Datwyler agreed to pay a $6,000 civil penalty to settle allegations that it did not properly report spending in a Tennessee state legislative Republican primary race.

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, U.S. Rep.-elect Mike Kennedy and former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes are among Datwyler’s Utah clients.

The PAC submitted its next filing — the first to disclose its finances — on Jan. 9. It indicated the PAC paid over $110,000 to longtime Utah Republican political operative Greg Powers’ G2 Consulting for “advertising.” At the time, Powers was wrapping up his work managing Colby Jenkins’ unsuccessful bid to oust U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy in the GOP primary.

The payment to G2 Consulting was reportedly made Nov. 26 — four days before the PAC said it received the $120,000 from Schultz to finance the operation.

By April, the website for Preserving Utah Values had been taken down, according to captures of the page on the Internet Archive. And in June, the PAC filed a statement of dissolution with the lieutenant governor’s office.