PACs are being used to funnel big money into city elections by a handful of people
Before we get to the PACs dark money into our city elections an update on the races.
In the school board race there are 3 people circulating for the two seats. Baker and Reiter plan to run for re-election, and the 3rd person’s name escapes me, but it is a woman from the banking sector.
MATT PAULSON IS USING HIS PERSONAL WEALTH TO FUNNEL MONEY INTO THE RACES USING PACS
The first PAC that is doing this is Paul TenHaken’s PAC ran by his mentor Joel Dykstra, Next Generation (DOCS). Which has funneled money to Merkouris and Curt Soehl. Major Donors below;
![](https://www.southdacola.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/donorngp.jpg)
But the big PAC is the one that seems to be funded almost solely by Matt Paulson, Falls Community Growth (DOCS). Paulson funneled $20,000 of his personal wealth (Half from himself and Half from his LLC) into the PAC and turned around under the shield of the PAC to donate $2,500 to Soehl (which explains why certain people have decided to NOT run against him, I won’t say names) and $5,000 to Barranco.
For the record, this is totally legal, it’s just a back door way for an individual with a lot of money to give thousands of dollars to candidates while not classifying it as an individual donation. It has been going on for years from donors like Sanford, Dykhouse and Lloyd.
As someone said to me yesterday, “It seems Mr. Paulson sees himself as a kingmaker.” Money can buy you a seat on the council, he helped pay Jensen’s rent and now he is all in on some more candidates.