Browse sourced findings, connection research, and open questions. Each entry retains the status and qualifications recorded with the research. A connection research note is not automatically a verified network-map relationship.
Connection research · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: primary contract bridge verified; actual KHQ airings, producer and payment chain unresolved
Primary FCC documents inspected September 18, 2026: KHQ's Defend and Protect Idaho folder has eight posted PDFs (six contract versions covering three contract IDs, two NAB forms). The station-profile search for quoted defend returned No Results Found, yet direct navigation 2026 > Non-Candidate Issue Ads revealed the folder. Search failure is not evidence of no activity.
Latest posted contract snapshots: 248930 (May 13 revision 2), alt order28673260, estima…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: Primary platform identity and creative index verified; exact production/agency/broadcast linkage unresolved
Google Ads Transparency Center identifies verified advertiser AR12070793104785932289, legal name Defend and Protect Idaho, EIN 88-1622628, United States. All-topics view showed 25 unique creative URLs; the political view listed 24 records: 19 with May 2026 flights and five with 2022 flights. Initial DOM duplicated the 25 links as 50 entries; deduplication by creative URL prevents double counting. Political Insights, Any time, displayed $45,100 across 24 ad…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: Primary creative identity and platform-reported delivery verified; production vendor, bank payer and KREM ad-ID linkage unproven
Ten Google political-ad records resolve through visible embedded players to Public Safety First videos on Defend and Protect Idaho's YouTube channel. This records platform titles, identifiers, flights, spending ranges and times shown, not independent validation of campaign claims or a production-cost ledger. Each row is one Google creative, irrespective of displayed format variations. Dates below are 2026.
Candidate/title suffix | Google creative | YouTub…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: primary order/invoice reconciliation verified; NAB contents unverified due retrieval failure
KXLY's four posted contract PDFs were retrieved and visually inspected (eight pages). Contract24615 v1 May8 totals20spots/$3,880gross/$582commission/$3,298net,matching invoice24615-1. Contract24964 v1 May14 totals13spots/$2,260gross/$339commission/$1,921net,matching invoice24964-1. Contract24618 v1 May8 totals17spots/$3,120gross/$468commission/$2,652net; v2 May26 credits the May16 UFL Late spot, resulting16spots/$3,020gross/$453commission/$2,567net,matchin…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: Primary self-description verified as published; election-year context inferred; campaign claims and producer attribution unverified
The PAC's own website links Facebook page IdahoansAgainstExtremism. The public page displayed a post dated May 21 headed as a message from chair Gary Raney. After expanding See more, the post described the PAC's campaign work: highlighting support for law enforcement and the rule of law, candidates' associations with Ammon Bundy, votes on Benji's Law, and Idaho State Police staffing/pay concerns. It claimed successes involving Reinke, Requa, Swensen, Vollm…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: exact cross-station ad-ID and invoice totals verified; creative content, producer and Redbird/Cothren bridge unresolved
KXLY provides an exact creative-ID bridge to KREM, not just matching dates or campaign names. All49 logged30-second spots across three May31,2026 invoices carry CPMDAPI26005H, the same identifier on KREM's38 previously inspected logged spots. The three KXLY invoices were visually inspected in full (one page each).
24615-1/order24615/alt28673298/estimate4265:20spots May9–13,gross$3,880,commission$582,net$3,298,balance$0 asofJune3 4:44:22PMPT.
24618-1/order2…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: arithmetic verified; budget-reallocation explanation is inference, not bank-transfer proof
Additional primary-document reconciliation after inspecting KHQ's original248931 (May8) and revised248931 (May13). Original248931 totals18spots/$16,775gross/$2,516.25commission/$14,258.75net; revised totals29spots/$23,275gross/$3,491.25commission/$19,783.75net. The gross increase is exactly$6,500. Over the same May8-revised to May13-revised comparison,248930 decreases exactly$6,500 ($20,325 to$13,825). Their combined gross remains$37,100 before and after. …
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: Distinct creative IDs, linked videos and platform-reported delivery verified; campaign claims, production payee and broadcast equivalence unverified
Eight Google political-ad records resolve to distinct issue-based videos on the same Defend and Protect Idaho YouTube channel. Visible ad copy tells viewers to reject the named candidates. The following is a primary platform index, not endorsement or verification of the advertisements' claims; all flight dates are 2026.
Title | Google creative | YouTube video ID | Flight | Spend range USD | Times shown
Idaho Immigration: Zuiderveld & Hostetler | CR0051011…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: primary forms visually verified; no violation or producer identity inferred
KHQ contract248930/estimate4265 has three posted versions with the same contract and alternate-order numbers. All six pages visually inspected: May8 original totals18spots/$18,325gross/$2,748.75commission/$15,576.25net; May8 Revised totals22spots/$20,325gross/$3,048.75commission/$17,276.25net; May13 Revised(2) totals16spots/$13,825gross/$2,073.75commission/$11,751.25net. Do not add those gross amounts or count them as three separate purchases.
The latest v…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-18
Recorded status: Historical error/correction attributed to contemporary reporting; present Wyoming address and 2026 totals verified in official UI; intent unresolved
Newly retrieved historical reporting identifies a concrete geographic-disclosure correction. Sean Dolan's May 18, 2026 EdNews report says five timed contribution reports signed by Gary Raney since February 2024 placed Way Back PAC in Sheridan, Idaho rather than Wyoming. EdNews reports that the PAC acknowledged an error and that Secretary of State staff corrected Sunshine within about two hours of notification. The displayed in-state share reportedly change…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: Verified arithmetic from preserved official CSV; reported allocations are not audited bank payments or ad-content verification
Scope: only Defend and Protect Idaho's transactions to Redbird Strategies and Hulsen Media Services LLC in the official 2026 Expenditures CSV downloaded September 17. Source snapshot SHA256 b06d0cfbf358b6463309b015c35a65cdf106ff142a118591d438bf5b05fee9c1 was rechecked unchanged. Treat the repeated Transaction Amount on candidate rows as non-additive; vendor totals deduplicate by Transaction Id, while candidate totals sum populated Amount Applied rows. Redb…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: Evidence-weight update, not definitive exclusion. Same legal entity appears unlikely; beneficial/personnel link remains unresolved.
The entity structures now differ in concrete ways. Prosecutors described Cade Cothren’s Redbird Strategies as based in West Palm Beach, Florida and operating by early 2020. The Idaho payee corresponds to an Idaho domestic LLC formed November 5, 2025, with an Idaho-identified domain registrant and Boise website timezone. No search result or filing found Cothren, Casada, Smith, Phoenix Solutions, Faith Family Freedom Fund, Dixieland Strategies, or Bulletproo…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: verified portal discrepancy; cause and legal significance unresolved
Idaho Sunshine currently displays a one-sided $23,000 inter-PAC transaction. Esto Perpetua's expenditure ledger reports a $23,000 contribution to Hometown Heroes on 2026-05-21, and links the recipient to Hometown Heroes GUID fa1d6e18-bc17-4805-be74-987ce8c71ed0. That same Hometown Heroes entity's contribution ledger displays the $35,000 Esto receipt of 2026-05-12 but does not display the $23,000 receipt of 2026-05-21; its profile likewise totals Esto Perpe…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: verified
Idaho Secretary of State entity 4676098 was formed March 30, 2022 as Right Impact LLC. Daniel Silver was its original governor and later manager. An April 6, 2023 amendment replaced Silver as manager with Right Insight LLC as member. The 2024 annual report again identified Right Insight LLC as member; the 2025 report changed Right Insight LLC's status from member to manager. On February 3, 2026, the entity legally changed its name from Right Impact LLC to …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: PRIMARY VERIFIED transaction overlap from Idaho Sunshine; Herway’s control/founder roles first-party verified. Candidate-PAC coordination or quid pro quo not established.
A transaction-by-transaction comparison of Idaho Sunshine’s Sunnybrook Strategies vendor archive with Hometown Heroes’ complete independent-expenditure table identifies eight candidate overlaps. Sunnybrook’s disclosed campaign clients included Stephanie Mickelsen, Rodney Furniss, Jack Nelsen, Gregory Lanting, Chenele Dixon, Treg Bernt, Julie Yamamoto, Mark Sauter and Jim Woodward; Hometown Heroes later reported independent expenditures supporting those can…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: PRIMARY VERIFIED filing ID, formation date, address, and 53-day formation-to-first-payment interval. Organizer and beneficial owner remain unresolved pending the Wyoming filed-document PDFs.
Wyoming Secretary of State’s official 2021 domestic-charter archive identifies Esto Perpetua Group LLC as filing ID 2021-001059065, formed December 9, 2021, with the address 30 N. Gould St., Suite R, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801. Idaho Sunshine then records the company’s first presently reproduced Take Back Idaho transactions on January 31, 2022: $1,507.90 for postage and $790 for broadcast advertising. The LLC was therefore formed 53 days before the first repr…
Read note and sources →Research finding · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: verified
A 13-page City of Nampa document says Right Insight LLC analyzed results and key themes from 2,414 responses to the city's 2023 citizen survey. Every substantive page is marked 'Confidential. All rights reserved by Right Impact LLC.' The report segmented responses by council district and demographics and recommended targeted follow-up for underrepresented groups. This is first-party evidence that the linked Right Insight/Right Impact entities performed loc…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: Verified primary record; inference explicitly bounded
Idaho Sunshine’s Defend and Protect Idaho ledger lists three 2024 payments to Esto Perpetua Group totaling $90,427: $50,000 on May 20 for management services; $15,427 on May 20 for management services; and $25,000 on August 2 for preparation/production of advertising. The same committee’s 2024 ledger lists Hulsen Media Services LLC broadcast-advertising payments of $68,900 on May 3 and $10,250 on May 6. This supports a bounded division-of-labor inference—E…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: PRIMARY VERIFIED governance from Idaho Sunshine; spouse relationship from Anthon campaign biography. Funding totals are official-profile aggregates. No donor control or quid pro quo established.
Idaho Sunshine’s official committee profile identifies Gem State Legacy Political Action Committee (Gem State Legacy PAC), filing entity ID 1666, as registered December 11, 2024, with Joelle Anthon as treasurer and Kelly Arthur Anthon as chairperson; the mailing address is P.O. Box 76, Rupert, Idaho. Kelly Anthon’s campaign biography identifies Joelle Anthon as his wife, while current public records identify Kelly Anthon as an Idaho state senator and Senat…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: SOURCE-RESTORED RECOVERY ITEM. URLs and source-specific support statements restored from corrected v2 snapshot. Evidentiary firewall preserved; dynamic aggregates and secondary reports still require ordinary publication-stage verification.
IMC's leadership page identifies Brandon Pugmire as a board member. Current and 2024 finance data list Imprint City as a major IMC payee; public business references identify Pugmire as president/founder of Imprint City.
Evidence firewall: Related-party/vendor edge is relevant to mapping; no wrongdoing is inferred.
Read note and sources →Open question · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: SOURCE-RESTORED RECOVERY ITEM. URLs and source-specific support statements restored from corrected v2 snapshot. Evidentiary firewall preserved; dynamic aggregates and secondary reports still require ordinary publication-stage verification.
Transparency USA's current contributor aggregate lists a Richard Larsen with $140,000 in Idaho contributions; candidate pages show Richard Larsen contributions to multiple candidates. Hometown Heroes' captured early-cycle page lists Richard Larsen at $50,000. Name-only identity matching remains unsafe.
Evidence firewall: Do not attach an occupation, employer, family, or other identity to the donor without a unique identifier.
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: SOURCE-RESTORED RECOVERY ITEM. URLs and source-specific support statements restored from corrected v2 snapshot. Evidentiary firewall preserved; dynamic aggregates and secondary reports still require ordinary publication-stage verification.
Way Back PAC's FEC filing shows a $100,000 disbursement to Hometown Heroes PAC in the relevant filing period. Idaho reporting based on Sunshine data says Hometown Heroes contributed more than $65,000 to Defend & Protect Idaho, $45,000 to Idaho First, and itself spent more than $150,000 supporting overlapping candidates. Later aggregate data show Hometown Heroes with substantial total receipts/expenditures and $222,000 as a contributor.
Evidence firewall: …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: verified transaction chronology; allocation and earmarking unproven
Hometown Heroes functioned as a PAC redistribution hub during the May 2026 primary window. Its transaction ledger shows $212,000 in outgoing contributions between May 5 and May 15: Magic Valley Voter Action received $20,000 on May 5 and $82,000 on May 7 ($102,000 total); Idaho First received $45,000 on May 8; Defend and Protect Idaho received $45,000 on May 13 and $20,000 on May 15 ($65,000 total). Documented incoming contributions through May 15 included …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-17
Recorded status: SOURCE-PRESERVED RECOVERY ADDENDUM. Exact URLs and evidentiary firewall retained; saving is not publication or proof of coordination.
Transparency USA shows Magic Valley Voter Action with a $10,000 contribution from Hometown Heroes. FCC public-file indexes show Magic Valley Voter Action political-file entries in Twin Falls-area media during May 2026.
Evidence firewall: Transfer and ad-file presence are documented; content, targeting, and coordination require the underlying ad/contract records.
Read note and sources →