A newly formed super PAC is dropping nearly $35,000 on AI-generated attack ads targeting Rep. Blake Moore ahead of Utah's June Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District. Despite an elaborate paper trail designed to obscure who's behind it, the money trail appears to lead to Dan Hauser, a longtime adviser to Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
Defending Conservative Values PAC registered with the Federal Election Commission on May 9. Its ads brand Moore as "Salt Lake Blake," targeting the three-term incumbent for living in Salt Lake City while running to represent the newly drawn 2nd District, which covers northern Utah and doesn't include any part of Salt Lake County.
The PAC's ad spending flows to a shell company called Conservative Action Group, which was incorporated earlier this year in Wyoming. That state doesn't require businesses to disclose their owners. The shell company lists a virtual office in Casper on its official paperwork.
But buried in FEC filings this week is a second address for the company: a street address in Alpine, Utah, that belongs to Hauser, a veteran Utah GOP operative who was on Lee's official Senate payroll until last year.
Hauser confirmed the address match when contacted by Utah Political Watch, calling it a clerical error. But, when asked directly whether he had any involvement with the PAC or its affiliated shell company, he wouldn't say no.
"Go ahead and link me personally to whatever entity you would like that is working to get an actual conservative to represent that district," Hauser said. "Blake Moore has been a failure at that."
Nearly everything about Defending Conservative Values is built to reveal as little as possible.
The PAC's statement of organization lists a single name: Thomas Datwyler of Hudson, Wisconsin, as both custodian of records and treasurer. A Utah state PAC with the same name appeared two days after the FEC filing, also listing only Datwyler. The PAC's website carries no contact information and links only to an X account with fewer than 150 followers. Its YouTube channel has just two subscribers.
The $35,000 in ad buys flowed to a company called Conservative Action Group, incorporated in Wyoming in March. Wyoming law allows businesses to register without disclosing ownership information. Conservative Action Group's official paperwork lists a virtual office in Casper as its address, and its only named contact is Lovette Dobson, a registered agent whose name appears on more than 45,000 business filings across the country, according to INC.com.
Datwyler is not just a name on a form. On his company website, he says he has guided more than 400 political committees and filed over 4,000 FEC reports. He serves as treasurer for Sen. Mike Lee's campaign committee, his joint fundraising committee, and his leadership PAC.
He is also the treasurer for Liberty Champions, a super PAC that first emerged during Lee's 2022 re-election race against independent Evan McMullin. FEC records show that one of Liberty Champions' clients is L4 Consulting, a company owned by Hauser, which he incorporated in Wyoming in 2022. Last year, Liberty Champions targeted a local Utah school board race in Alpine, sending attack mailers against Stacy Bateman, a candidate for a seat on the newly created Aspen Peaks School Board.
In a statement, Datwyler said the Alpine address for Conservative Action Group on the FEC filings was a mistake. Hauser offered the same explanation.
“Dan made me aware of the address mistake earlier today. It had been mistyped from another client invoice and was corrected today,” Datwyler said in an email.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no updated filings had been made with the FEC.
Defending Conservative Values is running AI-generated ads online and on social media hammering Moore as "Salt Lake Blake." One spot, titled "Lullaby," recycles footage of Moore falling asleep during a marathon House Ways and Means Committee hearing last year. There's also a radio ad featuring an original song by the same name.
The attack on Moore's residency tracks closely with the primary challenge Moore is facing from Karianne Lisonbee. Lisonbee has also targeted Moore over his role supporting the original Prop. 4 in 2018, the ballot initiative that created an independent redistricting commission. The GOP-controlled Legislature repealed Prop. 4 in 2020, a move a judge ruled unconstitutional last year. That ruling also invalidated the congressional map drawn by lawmakers in 2021, producing the new congressional map that created a Democratic-leaning district in Salt Lake County.
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