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 · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Strong secondary campaign-finance aggregation; primary Idaho Sunshine transaction row/date/purpose pending.
Transparency USA's current Idaho 2026-cycle committee aggregation for Veterans for Idaho Voters Inc. reports $78,457 in total contributions and identifies Idahoans for Open Primaries as a $75,000 entity contributor. If the underlying Idaho Sunshine transaction row confirms the aggregation, that single contribution represents about 95.6% of V4IV's reported cycle contributions. V4IV is the Idaho affiliate of Veterans for All Voters and was a formal member of…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY VERIFIED funding links and contemporaneous Idaho policy activity. Same-dollar earmarking, personal direction and bill-specific funding are NOT established.
A same-year 2021 institutional chain now directly connects George Soros-funded Open Society Policy Center to a national funder that gave money to an Idaho organization actively engaged in Idaho legislative-policy advocacy. Open Society's own historical annual report describes Open Society Policy Center (OSPC) as a nonpartisan 501(c)(4) public-policy organization 'funded directly by George Soros.' OSPC's primary 2021 Form 990 Schedule I lists eighteen separ…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified c4 grant amounts/purpose and official Idaho partnership; Idaho earmarking/downstream transfer not established.
Open Primaries’ 501(c)(4), Open Primaries Inc. (EIN 47-1494685), received a $340,000 FY2023 grant from Unite America Inc. (the separate 501(c)(4), EIN 82-1106814). IRS-derived records reproduce the Unite grant purpose as “TO BUILD PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR OPEN OR NONPARTISAN PRIMARIES.” Open Primaries’ official Idaho page lists Reclaim Idaho and Idahoans for Open Primaries as its Idaho state partners. Open Primaries’ own research page also lists a declaration by…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified direct grant relationships; Common Ground contact with WSC does not establish that these funders supported Common Ground or Idaho activity.
Western States Center, which Common Ground—United We Stand says Dixon and Conrad met during their 2024 national coalition-building effort, has a broad institutional funding base. IRS-derived 2019–2024 grant records identify approximately $385,000 from Foundation to Promote Open Society across four grants and approximately $352,000 from New Venture Fund across two grants, alongside larger totals from Meyer Memorial Trust, Fidelity Charitable, Catena Foundat…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified contact, affiliate structure and organization-to-organization transactions; no causal or same-dollar connection from Common Ground to Idaho PAC spending established.
Common Ground — United We Stand's December 2024 newsletter says Chenele Dixon and Charlie Conrad met with Western States Center and that the meeting led to additional connections with pro-democracy/effective-government organizations. Western States Center's current website states it is the joint website of Western States Center, a 501(c)(3), and Western States Strategies, a 501(c)(4); Western States Strategies separately describes itself as organized and o…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified personnel/campaign links from City of Boise filings, campaign materials, nonprofit filings and contemporaneous reporting. No organizational control/coordination inference.
Multiple documented personnel links connect the Reclaim/Votes Idaho/Idahoans United orbit to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean's political network. Yvonne 'Sam' Sandmire, who served as Reclaim Idaho's Ada County co-chair during the 2018 Medicaid campaign and later as a Reclaim Idaho Fund director, was officially appointed political treasurer for Lauren McLean for Boise in 2019; McLean's second-term campaign site continued to identify Sam Sandmire as treasurer. Luk…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified direct payments from Article IV IRS Schedule C plus separately verified Prop 1 funding. Coordination or earmarking between recipient organizations is not established.
Article IV's 2024 IRS Form 990 Schedule C reports $225,000 of its funds contributed to section 527 political organizations: $170,000 to Defend and Protect Idaho, $25,000 to Montana State AFL-CIO, and $30,000 to Way Back PAC. Separately documented 2024 campaign-finance reporting shows Article IV contributed roughly $2.2 million to Idahoans for Open Primaries. This materially strengthens the network map: Article IV was not merely a donor that reappeared in I…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified organizational/financial connection. Further donor tracing required for upstream funding and governance relationships.
For the 2024 Proposition 1 campaign, Luke Mayville served as a public spokesman for Idahoans for Open Primaries. Reclaim Idaho was a coalition member and made a $160,000 contribution to the campaign committee. Other formal coalition members included Mormon Women for Ethical Government, Veterans for Idaho Voters, Republicans for Open Primaries, North Idaho Women, and the Hope Coalition. This establishes an organizational and financial connection between Rec…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified organizational contact, grant and program relationships; no funding from Interfaith America to Common Ground or Idaho Solutions established.
Common Ground — United We Stand's December 2024 newsletter says Chenele Dixon and Charlie Conrad met with Interfaith America as part of their nationwide coalition-building effort. Separately, IRS-derived grant records identify a $16,000 Interfaith America grant to Mormon Women for Ethical Government Foundation in 2023. Interfaith America's own election-program materials describe its Faith in Elections Playbook, developed with Protect Democracy, and grant o…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified from VAV's own funder disclosure and IRS Schedule-I-derived grant records. No earmarking/pass-through into Idaho established.
Veterans for All Voters (formerly Veterans for Political Innovation) is the national organization whose Idaho affiliate, Veterans for Idaho Voters (V4IV), was a formal member of Idahoans for Open Primaries alongside Reclaim Idaho. VAV's own FAQ names Unite America among its current foundational funders. IRS Schedule-I-derived records show Unite America Institute Inc. granted VAV $845,750 in FY2024 for general operating support, veteran recruitment, increas…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified current membership/board/adviser relationships; membership does not imply common governance or funding.
The South Central Idaho Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s current member directory lists Idaho Solutions Inc., with Chenele Dixon as executive director, as a chamber member. The same directory lists Community Council of Idaho–Twin Falls with Roy Villasenor as contact and Idaho Milk Products as a member. The chamber’s current board page identifies Alex Castaneda as president/CEO and Sergio Mendoza as treasurer with “Community Council” shown as an affiliation. …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY/ORGANIZATIONAL records verify dairy PAC support and current Unity/Common Ground roles. Prior IdahoCabal negative grant search remains the current constraint: no direct major-funder grant to Idaho Solutions located. No WFF/1630 control or personal-benefit inference established.
Chenele Dixon is currently positioned at the intersection of several Idaho civic/political networks already mapped in this investigation. Idaho Dairy Industry PAC records show Dixon was endorsed in 2022 and 2024; the 2022 post-primary report says the PAC provided her a financial contribution and independent-expenditure support. After her 2024 primary loss, Idaho Dairymen's Association publicly honored Dixon, Linda Wright Hartgen, Greg Lanting and others as…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY VERIFIED from Idaho Sunshine; establishes a direct inter-entity financial transfer, but not parent/subsidiary status or broader control.
Idaho Secretary of State Sunshine records show the Reclaim Idaho political committee spent $3,000 on Reclaim Idaho Fund Inc. on June 22, 2022, categorized as Donation/Gift. Reclaim Idaho Fund Inc. is the separate 501(c)(4), EIN 86-3680412, whose FY2022 IRS-derived filing reports $93,333 in total contributions/revenue. This is direct evidence of a financial relationship between the Idaho political committee and the Reclaim 501(c)(4), resolving the prior que…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified reported/FEC-derived 2026 financial network. No direct Reclaim-to-2026-PAC connection established.
2026 reporting from Idaho campaign-finance and FEC data shows Defend and Protect Idaho as the largest-spending Idaho PAC in the May legislative primaries, with more than $752,800 in independent expenditures. Its major contributors included Way Back PAC, Article IV and Unite America PAC. Hometown Heroes contributed more than $65,000 to Defend and Protect Idaho; Hometown Heroes also received contributions from Take Back Idaho and other PACs. Idaho First rece…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: WNN grant to Gem State, Ali Rabe leadership and Idaho policy program verified. Exact WNN→Gem State grant amount and Sixteen Thirty same-dollar pass-through remain unresolved.
The Sixteen Thirty→Welcoming Neighbors Network→Gem State Housing Alliance route now has identifiable Idaho leadership and concrete policy uses. Sixteen Thirty Fund’s 2024 Schedule I reported a $600,000 grant to Welcoming Neighbors Network. Gem State Housing Alliance’s own history says the Idaho group applied for and won a Welcoming Neighbors Network grant, then hired staff, conducted a listening tour with more than 150 people across Idaho and developed a p…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY upgraded for 2026 advertiser/governance and political-ad activity; current lobbying identity strongly corroborated. Exact EIN/legal continuity to the 2021 $495K grantee and 2021→2026 dollar tracing remain unproved.
Sixteen Thirty Fund's 2021 Schedule I reports a $495,000 grant to Idaho Values First Foundation Inc., EIN 87-2846989, PO Box 2511, Boise, for civil rights/social action/advocacy. New primary 2026 FCC political-file records materially upgrade the current Idaho Values First side of this cross-cycle question. An April 2026 non-candidate issue-ad agreement for KMVT identifies the advertiser/sponsor as Idaho Values First at PO Box 85, Boise, Idaho 83701; gives …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: IRS-derived organization-to-organization grants verified; no same-dollar pass-through or WFF earmark is established.
A further organizational route links Sixteen Thirty Fund to Western Futures Fund through Sheriff Accountability Action (also operating as Sheriffs for Trusting Communities). IRS-derived records report a $700,000 Sixteen Thirty Fund grant to Sheriff Accountability Action in 2022 for civil rights/social action/advocacy. Western Futures Fund’s FY2024 funding records separately report a $30,000 grant from Sheriff Accountability Action. Sheriff Accountability A…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified foundation→Institute grants and board/officer overlap; Idaho earmarking or control not established.
A second recurring funder/governance overlap exists inside Unite America Institute through Kent Thiry. IRS-derived data show the Thiry-O’Leary Foundation (EIN 45-4059068), where Kent J. Thiry is reported as secretary, gave Unite America Institute approximately $1.5 million across six grants from 2020-2024, including about $609,000 in FY2024. Unite America Institute’s official board page lists Kent Thiry as a board member and describes him as heavily involv…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified current board/membership relationships and Dixon's outside roles. Control, funding earmarks and political coordination not established.
Unity Alliance of Southern Idaho's current official board page lists Representative Chenele Dixon under Local Government. The same current board roster lists Daragh Maccabee (CEO, Idaho Milk Products), Bob Naerebout (Dairymen's Association), Riley Barney (Idaho Dairymen's Association), Roy Villasenor (Community Council of Idaho), and Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks; Rick Naerebout, CEO of Idaho Dairymen's Association, is listed as a board adviser. Un…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY IDA endorsement/fundraiser evidence plus contemporaneous campaign-finance reporting verifies candidate convergence. No coordination or funding transfer among IDA, IACI/IPF and WFF/Way Back established.
The Idaho Dairymen's Association/Idaho Dairy Industry PAC is a separate Idaho agriculture political actor, not a demonstrated arm of Western Futures or IACI. IDA's own current site says its governmental-affairs mission is to impact agency and legislative decisions to benefit Idaho's dairy industry. Its Spring 2026 newsletter shows the Idaho Dairy Industry PAC endorsing Gov. Brad Little and a broad candidate slate including Jim Guthrie, Ben Fuhriman, Stepha…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified Reclaim/SOSI operational relationship and SOSI/Hulsen vendor relationship; cross-client coordination not established.
Reclaim Idaho's own history states that in April 2025 it joined pro-public-education allies to launch a Save Our Schools town-hall tour across Idaho, and that organizers/volunteers collected more than 17,000 signatures for Reclaim's Not A Dollar More petition. September 2025 local reporting likewise said Luke Mayville and Reclaim staff appeared on behalf of Save Our Schools Idaho. Separately, FCC public-file records show Save Our Schools Idaho used Hulsen …
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Current Idaho governance and 2026 spending use verified; Way Back→DPI funding verified. Upstream WFF/1630 same-dollar attribution remains unproved.
Defend and Protect Idaho provides one of the clearest Idaho endpoints for the Western Futures/Way Back network. The PAC’s own website identifies Judith Ellis as treasurer. Current Idaho reporting identifies retired Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney as chairman and says the committee was founded by Raney and other retired law-enforcement figures. In the 2026 Republican primary cycle, Idaho Capital Sun reported that Defend and Protect Idaho spent more than $752,…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: Verified personnel and coalition nodes; cross-organizational control/coordination not established.
Primary FCC records for Idaho Values First's April 2026 media buy identify Rolando Ruano, Judy Ellis and Cheryl Miller as governing persons. Take Back Idaho's current official website independently lists Cheryl Miller as a member of its board of directors. A published Republicans for Open Primaries membership list identifies Cheryl Miller as a 'long-time Ada County Republican stalwart.' Take Back Idaho board member Bruce Newcomb was the treasurer of Idahoa…
Read note and sources →Connection research · 2026-09-15
Recorded status: PRIMARY direct 2024 grant and primary recipient policy-advocacy mission/outcome claims verified. Grant-to-recipient fiscal-period concentration, bill earmarking, direction and causation remain unproved.
Sixteen Thirty Fund’s primary 2024 Schedule I reports a direct $110,740 cash grant to Idaho Voices for Children Foundation Inc. (EIN 82-0478703), Boise, Idaho, for civil rights, social action and advocacy. Idaho Voices for Children’s own current materials describe the organization as a statewide public-policy advocate: it identifies policy solutions, educates elected officials and constituents, mobilizes allies, and advocates for policy changes affecting I…
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