Layered PAC Money Trace · Federal · Outside spending only

Scott Peters

CA-50 2024 general (House) · Election 2024-11-05
What this report measures: independent expenditures (IEs) reported on FEC Schedule E — money spent by outside Super PACs to support or oppose this candidate. It does not include the candidate's own campaign-committee fundraising, which is shown below for context.
$135,451
Outside (PAC) spending — total
$135,451
Outside spending in support
$0
Outside spending in opposition
3
Outside spending committees
For context — Scott Peters's OWN campaign committee (SCOTT PETERS FOR CONGRESS ↗) as of 2024-12-31:
$2.29M raised · $1.88M spent · $0 cash on hand
This own-committee total is reported separately and is not included in the outside-spending numbers above.
How to read these numbers

Outside spending is currently 5.9% of what the candidate's own committee has raised. The election was 564 days ago. Outside-spending figures shown reflect the complete cycle through final disclosure.

✓
NO AIPAC-NETWORK MONEY DETECTED
checked against roster of 6 committees + 18 individuals
Report ID CA_50_2024_general_House_Scott_Peters · Generated by the federal money-trace pipeline · Depth 3, min material transfer $25,000. Every figure traceable to the official FEC API.

What this report is about

There's a race for CA-50 2024 general (House). One of the candidates is Scott Peters. This report tracks the outside money in the race — money spent on TV ads, mailers, and digital ads by groups that aren't Scott Peters's own campaign. Those groups are called Super PACs.

Super PACs can spend unlimited money on ads, as long as they don't coordinate directly with the candidate. They have to report every dollar to the federal government — which is what makes investigations like this possible.

The headline, in everyday words

About $135,451 has been spent on outside ads supporting Scott Peters so far. That's a small amount — competitive House races often see $1-10M. We're at a historical picture — This race is over. The numbers below are final, reported as of the cycle's close.

The biggest spender is VETERANS AID PAC, which spent $134,479 — about 99% of all the outside money in this race. That group is funded by: (no large donors disclosed). So when you see an ad supporting Scott Peters, there's a real chance these donors paid for it.

The AIPAC piece

The detector checked every committee and donor in this race against a curated list of 7 AIPAC-aligned committees and 18 known pro-Israel mega-donors. No matches. Pro-Israel money does not appear to be a factor in this race.

One thing worth knowing about who's behind the ads

The 3 groups doing the outside spending often share back-office infrastructure — the same treasurer, the same office address, the same political vendors. That doesn't mean they're 'the same group' — it means a handful of political operatives run multiple Super PACs out of the same office. It's legal and common, but worth knowing: when you read about 'six different groups' supporting a candidate, they often share the same plumbing behind the scenes. The detailed analysis tab shows exactly which.

The bottom line

  1. Most early ad money supporting Scott Peters comes from the funders named above.
  2. Pro-Israel money is not a factor in this race based on the disclosed filings.
  3. All of this is legal and public — every dollar in this report comes from the FEC's own filings.

The headline, in one paragraph

Outside-spending committees disclosed $135,451 in independent expenditures supporting Scott Peters in the CA-50 2024 general (House). 3 committees filed; the largest, VETERANS AID PAC, accounts for 99% of that total.

AIPAC-network check
NOT DETECTED

No AIPAC-network committee or individual on the curated roster appears anywhere in this trace, at any layer.

Checked 3 committees and 4 distinct donor names against the roster of 7 committees and 18 individuals (last updated 2026-05-23).

Roster: skills/_shared/aipac_network.json (last updated 2026-05-23). Detector: skills/_shared/aipac_detect.py. Negative and positive findings are both auditable — running these checks against the same trace will reach the same conclusion. Match confidence on individual donors is medium (name-only); analysts should verify employer/location to rule out homonyms before publication.

Where the money flowed

Each ribbon shows a disclosed money flow. Donors and parent committees on the left → spending committees in the middle → the candidate on the right. Width is proportional to dollars.

donor → PAC transfer PAC support spending PAC opposition spending

Spending committees in this race

VETERANS AID PAC
FEC C00699801 ↗  ·  Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only)
Independent expenditures in this race
$134,479
$134,479 support $0 oppose
No flags
Treasurer
CAPPLEMAN, OLIVER
Registered address
ONE WESTBROOK CORPORATE CENTER, SUITE 300, WESTCHESTER, IL, 60154
Cycles active
2020, 2022, 2024, 2026
Total receipts (2024)
$142,695

Who funded this PAC

No itemized donors disclosed.
Operational & media vendors
Top operational vendors (Schedule B)
VendorPaid#Category
WIRED4DATA $152,460 96 PHONEBANK IT/TECH SUPPORT (CLEARING FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD)
LAV SERVICES LLC $83,695 88 PHONEBANK PAYROLL SERVICES (CLEARING FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD)
CLOUD DATA SERVICES $79,773 80 LEADS / PHONE LISTS (CLEARING FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD)
STANDARD DATA SERVICES LLC $69,014 88 CAGING AND DATABASE SERVICES (CLEARING FROM PREVIOUS PERIOD)
CAPPLEMAN, OLIVER $55,280 88 PAYROLL
Top media vendors (Schedule E)
VendorPaidIEsOther candidates targeted
WIRED4DATA $194,653 494 BILIRAKIS, GUS, BROWNLEY, JULIA, PETERS, SCOTT
LAV SERVICES LLC $112,184 494 BILIRAKIS, GUS, BROWNLEY, JULIA, PETERS, SCOTT
CLOUD DATA SERVICES $93,614 418 BILIRAKIS, GUS, BROWNLEY, JULIA, PETERS, SCOTT
STANDARD DATA SERVICES LLC $92,697 494 BILIRAKIS, GUS, BROWNLEY, JULIA, PETERS, SCOTT
COURAGE CALIFORNIA SUPER PAC
FEC C00523498 ↗  ·  Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only)
Independent expenditures in this race
$717
$717 support $0 oppose
No flags
Treasurer
KAO, IRENE
Registered address
445 S. FIGUEROA ST, STE. 2400, LOS ANGELES, CA, 90071
Cycles active
2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2026
Total receipts (2024)
$25,850

Who funded this PAC

No itemized donors disclosed.
Operational & media vendors
Top operational vendors (Schedule B)
VendorPaid#Category
BATTLEGROUND CALIFORNIA $75,000 3 FEDERAL CONTRIBUTION
BREAKGLASS STRATEGIES, LLC $60,000 36 PAC POLITICAL CONSULTING
KAUFMAN LEGAL GROUP $29,016 39 LEGAL & TREASURY EXPENSES
COURAGE CAMPAIGN $12,668 15 VOTER GUIDE
ACTBLUE $2,566 189 MERCHANT FEES
Top media vendors (Schedule E)
VendorPaidIEsOther candidates targeted
WASHINGTON, FUSE $5,556 300 HARRIS, KAMALA, RIVAS, LUZ, WHITESIDES, GEORGE, MORSE, JESSICA
COURAGE CAMPAIGN $4,456 300 MIN, DAVE, TRAN, DEREK, KERR, JOE, YEE, ROSE PENELOPE
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST PAC
FEC C00688432 ↗  ·  Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only)
Independent expenditures in this race
$255
$255 support $0 oppose
Suggestive name
Treasurer
GERING, KURT
Registered address
1075 CAMINO DEL RIO SOUTH, SAN DIEGO, CA, 92108
Cycles active
2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2026
Total receipts (2024)
$1.51M

Who funded this PAC

Org PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
$699,400 (46.2%)
Ind WALTON, CHRISTY
$500,000 (33.0%)
Ind JACOBS, IRWIN MARK
$92,500 (6.1%)
Ind BLAIR, PHILLIP C.
$37,000 (2.4%)
Operational & media vendors
Top operational vendors (Schedule B)
VendorPaid#Category
PLANNED PARENTHOOD AFFILIATES OF CALIFORNIA VOTES PAC $350,000 6 POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST $226,541 26 PRESS CONFERENCE; IN-KIND TO NON-FEDERAL CANDIDATE
KEYS LAW CORPORATION $142,978 58 LEGAL & REPORTING SERVICES
STONES PHONES $70,000 2 NON-FEDERAL INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES
ACH PAYMENT $28,312 8 FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION UNDER DISPUTE WITH BANK
Top media vendors (Schedule E)
VendorPaidIEsOther candidates targeted
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST $7,769 35 ROLLINS, WILL, LEVIN, MIKE, VARGAS, JUAN, JACOBS, SARA
FUTURA COLOR, INC. $314 19 ROLLINS, WILL, VARGAS, JUAN, JACOBS, SARA, PETERS, SCOTT

Top donors — wider network footprint

For each top-tier donor in this race chain, the renderer pulled their complete cycle giving record across all Super PACs. A high multiplier means the donor is part of a much larger outside-money network.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST
— · — · SAN DIEGO, CA
$699,400
Into this race chain
$870,565
Total cycle giving
1
Distinct PACs funded
1.2×
Multiplier (wider network reach)
Also funded: PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST PAC ($870,565)
WALTON, CHRISTY
PHILANTHROPIST · SELF EMPLOYED · BENTONVILLE, AR
$500,000
Into this race chain
$543,216
Total cycle giving
28
Distinct PACs funded
1.1×
Multiplier (wider network reach)
Also funded: THE LINCOLN PROJECT ($200,000); SFA FUND, INC ($100,000); PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST PAC ($100,000); HARRIS VICTORY FUND ($25,462)

Cross-cycle activity

Committee receipts disclosed in prior election cycles — to show whether this is a long-running operation or a single-cycle vehicle.

COURAGE CALIFORNIA SUPER PAC
C00523498
2020
2022
PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND OF THE PACIFIC SOUTHWEST PAC
C00688432
2020
2022
VETERANS AID PAC
C00699801
2020
2022

This is the wider-audience summary. The full analyst-grade markdown report — with every endpoint, every caveat, the request-for-comment letter drafts, the PDF review queue, the FCC scaffold, and reproducibility instructions — lives at reports/CA_50_2024_general_House_Scott_Peters_final_report.md in the same folder.

How to read flag badges
  • Single funder ≥80% — one source provides almost all of the committee's money. The clearest shell-PAC fingerprint.
  • Top PAC funder ≥40% — concentrated, but with at least some donor diversity.
  • PAC aggregate ≥50% — most receipts come from other PACs rather than individuals.
  • Suggestive name — committee name matches a known shell-PAC linguistic pattern (e.g. "Americans for…", "Citizens for…").
  • Few donors (≤3) — three or fewer disclosed contributors.
  • Single-cycle activity — committee was active only during one election cycle.

One flag is suggestive, not probative. Two or more flags together is publishable analysis. Zero flags is not a clean bill of health — it just means none of these specific fingerprints fired.

How this report is reproducible

Every dollar figure comes from the FEC's public API. To re-run this trace end-to-end:

export FEC_API_KEY="<your_key>"
python skills/fec-money-trace/fec_run.py \
  --candidate "Scott Peters" \
  --cycle 2024 \
  --race "CA-50 2024 general (House)" \
  --election-date 2024-11-05 \
  --depth 3 \
  --min-transfer 25000

Primary endpoints used: /candidates/search/, /schedules/schedule_e/ (independent expenditures), /schedules/schedule_a/ (receipts), /schedules/schedule_b/ (disbursements), /committee/{id}/ (Form 1 registration).

Named individuals are public donors of record under federal campaign finance law and appear in primary-source FEC filings. They are listed for disclosure transparency, not as accusation. Any narrative use of these names should give each individual an opportunity to respond before publication — request-for-comment letter drafts are already produced and live in followups/comment_letters/.