BREAKING: “Another Dead Person Appears to Have Donated to David Flippo’s House Campaign” [Washington Sun]

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Washington Sun: Another Dead Person Appears to Have Donated to David Flippo’s House Campaign

• The only woman matching Val Sheldon’s information on the filing died in 2019, according to published obituaries from the time reviewed by The Washington Sun.
• The Flippo campaign reattributed the $143.56 donation to her after splitting it from a $3,643.56 contribution credited to another Nevada resident named Bret Sheldon — but Bret Sheldon said he knew nothing of this reattribution until The Sun contacted him on Tuesday.
• Bret Sheldon’s sister-in-law was Val Sheldon, and he told The Sun he does not know anyone else with that name. He added that the Flippo campaign had not contacted him or received his written consent before reattributing his contribution, which is required under FEC guidelines.
• Asked whether the Flippo campaign attributed the donation to someone who’s dead, Thomas Datwyler, Flippo’s campaign treasurer, told The Sun he was “looking into it.”
• The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the Flippo campaign accepted a $7,000 contribution from Marilynn Mack, which is double the federal limit per election, and reattributed the excess $3,500 to the donor’s mother, Joyce Mack — a well-known Nevada philanthropist who died in 2024.
• Flippo’s campaign did not answer questions or provide documentation that it had received written confirmation from Bret Sheldon or the individual named Val Sheldon before making the reattribution. The campaign also did not share how it initially identified Val Sheldon.
• The dead-donor contributions are the latest troubles for Flippo, who has faced a slew of controversies during his campaign, including campaign finance violations, accusations of exaggerating his military record and questionable circumstances surrounding multiple firings in previous jobs.
• Retiring Rep. Mark Amodei, a Republican who’s represented the area for more than a decade, told The Sun he believes Flippo is an “absolutely flawed candidate.”
• “You just sit here looking at this stuff, it’s like it all looks like bullshit to me,” Amodei told The Sun. “I’m going to say this ain’t my guy.”
• Amodei has been open about voting for independent candidate Lynn Chapman in the general election.
• His campaign has faced a slew of campaign finance scrutiny over the last few months, prompting three formal complaints against the candidate. The Nevada Republican also missed the May 15 filing deadline for his required financial disclosure and never filed one for his 2024 congressional campaign.
• Mother Jones published several reports cataloguing some mysterious donations to Flippo’s campaign and his connection to one donor with a series of alleged fraud and bad-business dealings levied against him.
• Flippo has also faced a string of personal controversies stemming from his career in the financial services industry and his military record. The Washington Post reported last month that Flippo may have been inflating certain details about his military achievements.
• The circumstances surrounding Flippo’s firings as an aircraft maintenance squad commander in 2008 and as a financial adviser in 2024 have also been called into question.