Over $47,000 in super PAC money flooded a local mayoral runoff election and supported one candidate. What does that mean?
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Idaho Sunshine Report currently reflects financial filings up until the date this article was published. More filings are expected to be reported by the Dec. 10, 2025, deadline, potentially increasing the PAC money totals.
IDAHO FALLS — Between the general election and the runoff election for the new Idaho Falls mayor — 28 days — the winning candidate’s campaign was supported with tens of thousands of dollars in Political Action Committee (PAC) money. The losing candidate was supported by none.
How much did these PACs affect the election results?
Idaho Falls Mayor-elect Lisa Burtenshaw won Tuesday’s runoff election against runner-up Jeff Alldridge by 772 votes, a decent margin in an election where only 12,098 people showed up to vote out of the 32,204 registered voters in Idaho Falls.
Alldridge was the winning candidate in the general election, earning 5,599 votes, which was 62 votes more than Burtenshaw, who received 5,537 votes at that time. Still, neither candidate achieved over 50% of the vote required to win the election.
In what is considered a rarity in Idaho politics, 238 more people showed up to vote for the runoff election than for the general election. According to RockTheVote, runoff elections usually garner fewer registered voters showing up to the polls, in a phenomenon known as “voter dropoff.”
According to the Idaho Sunshine Report, which is Idaho’s Campaign Finance System, Burtenshaw received both contributions and independent expenditures from multiple PACs and super PACs.
What is a PAC?
A PAC is a political organization that pools campaign contributions from its members to support or oppose candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Super PACs are Independent Expenditures Only Committees (IEOCs) that “can accept unlimited contributions and spend an unlimited amount supporting or opposing … election candidates, but they cannot directly donate to … candidates or parties,” according to Ballotpedia.
The difference between contributions and independent expenditures is important.
A contribution is “Money or anything of value given for the purpose of influencing … (an) election,” according to Congress.gov, PACs can only contribute a total of $5,000 per election directly to the candidate.
An independent expenditure — used by a super PAC — is “money spent on a communication that expressly advocates election or defeat of a … candidate, uncoordinated with any candidate or political party.” This means the candidate and the super PAC act independently of each other. There is no limit to the amount a super PAC can spend on a campaign through independent expenditures, according to Congress.gov.
Between the two elections, Burtenshaw’s campaign was supported by five Political Action Committees (PACs), four of which are super PACs. The PACs supported her election by paying for advertisements, printing and postage in favor of her or in opposition to her opponent.
Before the general election, Burtenshaw’s campaign had been supported by independent expenditures from two super PACs: Melaleuca Inc. and the Conservation Voters for Idaho Action Fund. These expenditures paid for political advertising in support of Burtenshaw, totaling $16,476.
Only one PAC made a direct contribution to Burtenshaw, the Idaho Falls Firefighters’ PAC, for $500.
Between the general and runoff election, two more super PACs financially supported Burtenshaw’s campaign and directly opposed Alldridge with independent expenditures, flooding the race with $33,630 in advertising and printing, making Burtenshaw’s total PAC/super PAC support come to $47,609.
Who are these super PACs?
The Idaho Liberty PAC
In total, the Idaho Liberty PAC supported Burtenshaw’s campaign through independent expenditures with $17,000 in advertising money to I.E. Productions, $842.60 in advertising money to Alliance Forge (a Voter Relationship Management platform in the political technology services industry) and $11,000 in advertising money to Arena, a full-service political ad agency.
According to the Idaho Sunshine Report, the Idaho Liberty PAC is funded by the Idaho Victory Fund — another super PAC. This is where it gets confusing.
When we reached out to the media contact on the website for the Idaho Victory Fund to learn more about its funding, staff told us they would do some research and get back to us with more information. We have not heard back.
According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s website, the Idaho Victory Fund gets its money from a large mix of individuals, PACs and companies.
AUTOPAC, the political action committee of the Idaho Automobile Dealers Association, provided the Idaho Victory Fund with $35,000 in 2023.
PotlatchDeltic, a timberland real estate investment trust out of Spokane, Washington, donated $10,000 to the PAC, also in December 2023.
Locally, Ball Ventures LLC, based in Idaho Falls, provide that PAC with a $10,000 donation in November 2023. Richard & Peggy Larsen Farms in Rexburg also donated $20,000 to Idaho Victory Fund around the same time.
Richard and Peggy Larsen are local farmers who own Larsen Farms in Rexburg.
Melaleuca Inc. PAC
The Melaleuca Inc. PAC supported Burtenshaw’s campaign through independent expenditures, allocating $12,000 in advertising funds to East Idaho News.
This PAC is funded by The Melaleuca Company. Frank VanderSloot, its executive chairman, has openly endorsed Burtenshaw.
Defend and Protect Idaho
The Defend and Protect Idaho PAC describes itself on its website as “a coalition of members of law enforcement and the military, small business owners, faith leaders, farmers and ranchers, and more dedicated to combating political extremism in Idaho.”
They supported the Burtenshaw campaign through independent expenditures, spending $4,787 with Alpha Graphics for printing and postage. They also directly opposed Alldridge’s campaign through independent expenditures, allocating $5,615 to Alpha Graphics for printing and postage, and $8,364 to CounterPoint Messaging for broadcast advertising.
This PAC is funded by a variety of individuals and organizations over a period of time, in places such as Sheridan, Idaho, Atlanta, Georgia, Phoenix, Arizona, and, most recently, Richard Larson of Rexburg, who funded the PAC with $50,000, and the National Association of Realtors in Chicago, which funded it with $25,000.
Conservation Voters for Idaho Action Fund
The Conservation Voters for Idaho Action Fund is a “statewide bipartisan organization that works across the political aisle to advance conservation value (sic),” according to its website.
It supported Burtenshaw’s campaign with $20 in advertising money to Scale to Win — a political tech company — and $3,955 in advertising and postage money to The Pivot Group, a political mail firm.
This PAC is funded by multiple different sources, including Caleb Roope in Eagle, Roundhouse in Boise, Planned Parenthood Votes Idaho PAC in Boise, and the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund (LCV) in Washington, D.C., which donated $30,000 to the PAC.
We reached out to the LCV Victory Fund for questions on who funds it. We received the following statement in an email:
“There have been tens of thousands of donors directly to LCV Victory Fund over the past eight years, and those account for the majority of the funding of our super PAC,” the spokesperson said. “All donors over $200 are publicly disclosed to the FEC.”
Did PAC money affect the election?
It’s difficult to pinpoint who or what exactly motivates a PAC or super PAC with many donors to suddenly get involved in an election campaign. Many super PACs have existed for years and fund a wide variety of candidates in an even wider variety of elections.
Idaho State University journalism professor Zac Gershberg says PACs are can be confusing and misleading on purpose, often creating frustration and concern about transparency among voters.
“Some of this stuff seems really scary when we talk about dark money, but I will say this has been the playbook for local politics for a long time,” Gershberg says. “I think it’s meant to be super confusing in some ways. … I think the concern is sort of understandable.”
According to the Idaho Sunshine Report, Jeff Alldridge was not supported by any PACs or super PACs, and his campaign was mostly funded by himself and direct contributions from companies and independent donors. Burtenshaw’s campaign finances were also heavily funded directly by companies and independent donors.
Here’s who is donating to Jeff Alldridge and Lisa Burtenshaw in the Idaho Falls mayoral runoff
According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s office, PACs can support campaigns with means other than just money, such as services, counseling and other forms of assistance.
“Ever since Citizens United, which is a United States Supreme Court case, political activity among PACs is very common,” Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane tells EastIdahoNews.com. “At times, you can almost feel like a pawn as a candidate, because you have these organizations that are spending a lot of money around this space, and you’re just the subject of it.”
The case, Citizens United v. FEC, ruled that limiting independent expenditures on political campaigns by groups such as corporations, labor unions, or other collective entities violates the First Amendment.
According to the Federal Election Commission, candidates are prohibited from being in contact with any super PACs that support them. PACs are required to be independent from the candidate.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to Idaho Falls Mayor-elect Burtenshaw, who said she had no coordination with the PACs that supported her campaign throughout the course of the race.
“I have had zero coordination with them. I have had none,” Burtenshaw says. “I did end up with a lot more endorsements from state and local leaders and businesses. … I think that is the truth, that it is just local relationships, state relationships, and I think I had people who really cared about this election.”
Burtenshaw was endorsed by many Idaho elected officials, including U.S. Congressman Mike Simpson, Gov Brad Little, Lt. Governor Gov. Scott Bedke, state Sens. Dave Lent and Kevin Cook, and state Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen.
We also reached out to Alldridge, who said the influx of PAC money at the end of the runoff election was surprising to him.
“It was pretty surprising to see how much money was being used from outside of our city to influence the city,” Alldridge says. “The question is why? It seems very strange.”
Although most of the PAC support indicated that it came from in-state, a smaller amount of the funding for the PACs that ultimately supported the Burtenshaw campaign came from other parts of the country.
Alldridge’s take on the situation is that the PACs that supported Burtenshaw’s campaign were not engaged in the race until after Alldridge won in the general election.
“I think a big reason why PACs spent so much money in the runoff is they were surprised by the results of the Nov. 4 election,” Alldridge says. “I think of it as more of an establishment versus non-establishment.”
Alldridge believes the election was “coordinated” and that the PAC support for Burtenshaw was what secured her the win.
“This is definitely tipping the scales, and it’s coordinated,” Alldridge says. “There are a number of mailers specifically from Defend and Protect Idaho and the Idaho Liberty PAC that came out sequentially right at the end of the runoff in order to help influence and not give enough time to be able to rebut any of their arguments.”
Burtenshaw denies this, saying her campaign was successful due to the relationships and hard work that she and her team invested in the race.
“I’m not sure why Jeff doesn’t credit (the win) to the work of my campaign,” Burtenshaw says. “I made an effort to set myself apart from Jeff by posting things about the city that I knew about, and the projects that I had been involved in. I think that actually worked to my advantage to show people my experience and knowledge.”
Gershberg says PAC money can be incredibly important in local elections, especially in one as contentious as this, with such stark differences in PAC support.
“The contours of our local elections are shaped in particular ways, and it sounds like this sort of spending in the use of political action committees, since it was overwhelming on one side … was a decisive factor,” Gershberg says. “Here you have total (PAC support) asymmetry that proved pretty decisive.”
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