Dark money group funds Nebraska initiative to limit sports participation to biological sex

A petition effort to restrict school sports participation in Nebraska to biological sex has received the entirety of its funding, totaling more than $3 million, from a dark money nonprofit.

Fairness For Girls, a ballot question committee, was established in March with the goal of passing a constitutional amendment requiring all public schools, including public colleges and universities, to “expressly designate” sports teams by biological sex. The restrictions would apply to all school-sponsored teams, including intramural teams.

But before the proposed amendment can appear on the November ballot, the committee must collect signatures from 10% of registered voters, including 5% of registered voters from 38 of the state’s 93 counties. The deadline for collecting the signatures is July 6.

Filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission show that Fairness for Girls raised $3.1 million in just two months from one single donor: A 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Restore the Good Life Inc.

Those millions have, in turn, been used to pay petition gatherers, who have flocked to parking lots and public parks across the state. In March and April, according to NADC records, Fairness for Girls paid $3 million to Vanguard Field Strategies, a Texas-based offshoot of GOP consulting firm Axiom Strategies that provides paid door-knockers and petition gatherers to Republican candidates and causes.

Restore the Good Life has no online presence. Tanner Lockhorn, a Lincoln man who was appointed by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts to serve on a judicial nominating commission in 2021, is listed as the organization’s treasurer. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the source of the nonprofit’s funds. 501(c)(4) nonprofits do not have to disclose any information about their donors.

In records filed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2024, a phone number listed for Restore the Good Life appears to belong to Corben Waldron, the Nebraska state director of Axiom Strategies and a former advisor to Ricketts. Waldron did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment on Axiom’s involvement in the nonprofit.

Neither Ricketts nor current Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen responded to requests for comment on whether or not they donated to Restore the Good Life. Ricketts previously denied contributing to the group when it was active in the 2022 general election, according to reporting from the Nebraska Examiner.

During the 2022 election cycle, Restore the Good Life funneled money into two now-defunct PACs to oppose primary competitors to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen. Restore the Good Life was the sole funder of Say No to RINOs PAC, which spent nearly $250,000 on ads opposing moderate republican gubernatorial candidate Brett Lindstrom.

The nonprofit also contributed $240,000 to Conservative Nebraska PAC, which was largely funded by members of the Ricketts family. That PAC spent more than $1.8 million to oppose both Lindstrom and another Republican candidate, Charles Herbster – in turn boosting Pillen, whom Ricketts endorsed.

501(c)(4) nonprofit groups are a common vehicle for dark money to flow into elections in state and federal races on behalf of both liberal and conservative candidates and causes. Defined by the IRS as “social welfare” groups, 501(c)(4) groups have far more latitude to lobby and campaign for political issues, as opposed to 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

For example, in the contentious Democratic primary race for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district, a 501(c)(4) group called Western Futures Fund was a primary donor to a PAC that ran more than $2 million in ads supporting Denise Powell, who went on to win the nomination, and opposing her top competitor, John Cavanaugh. A separate 501(c)(4) nonprofit associated with a Republican group also ran anti-Cavanaugh ads.

Though 501(c)(4) nonprofits are not supposed to have political giving and advocacy as their “primary activity,” the rule is loosely defined and rarely enforced.