What to know from our report on Fresno candidate’s $1.5M PAC that pays local Dem consultants
A candidate running for Fresno City Council has benefitted from the financial backing of a federal political action committee he cofounded — a PAC some political experts say stands out for its high overhead expenses and relatively sparse political spending.
The group, called Youth Save Democracy, was cofounded by Johnathon Burrows, a former Fresno City Hall staffer, and Nav Gurm, an attorney, political consultant and candidate for the competitive District 7 council race.
A Fresno Bee report analyzed Youth Save Democracy’s public financial records filed with the Federal Elections Commission and fundraising emails, as well as conducted more than a dozen interviews with PAC founders, affiliates, nonpartisan campaign finance watchdogs and members of Fresno’s political community.
Here are five key takeaways from the report.
PAC got its start from a suspended congressional campaign
Burrows, a first-time political candidate and former public relations director for District 7 Councilmember Nelson Esparza’s office, launched a campaign to unseat former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) in February 2023. Gurm, who was a campaign consultant on the Burrows campaign, is also a former staffer in Esparza’s office.
Ten months later, Burrows announced on Dec. 13, 2023 that he was suspending his campaign in order to help a fellow Democrat in the race make it onto the ballot. His campaign raised a total of $672,855 by the end of 2023, according to campaign records.
Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, a nonprofit seeking to reduce the influence of money in politics, said it’s not uncommon for an unsuccessful losing candidate to convert their war chest into a PAC.
“PACs give politicians a perch from which they can continue to influence elections and support like-minded candidates,” Beckel said in an email.
Fresno City Council candidate benefitting from federal PAC he cofounded
In addition to earning income from Youth Save Democracy as a consultant, Gurm received a contribution from his City Council campaign from Youth Save Democracy for $5,500 in December 2024.
Gurm said he is not involved in any political spending decisions at the state or local level – such as the decision to contribute to his own campaign. He remains involved with the PAC’s federal organizing work as a consultant through his Five River Strategies consulting business.
Group’s operational expenses ‘unusually’ high
A lion’s share of the PAC’s spending — 83% — is used for operational costs.
“That’s unusually high,” Beckel, of Issue One said. “Donors and potential donors might have serious questions and legitimate concerns if a PAC spends an unusually high portion of its funds on administrative costs.”
Between Jan. 1, 2025 and March 31, Youth Save Democracy spent $1.45 million of its $1.74 million total expenditure to pay for political consultants, texting software, legal compliance, fundraising software, website software and more, according to the FEC.
During that same period, the PAC only spent about $297,159 on political races, according to county, state and federal data. About 40% of the spending that went toward local and state races, or $58,800, went toward Fresno political entities, nonprofits and candidates, including Gurm, according to the latest FEC data.
Burrows and Gurm said they don’t think this is a fair assessment. Their operations expenses may be higher than traditional PACs because they directly employ young people and support direct advocacy work such as voter registration campaigns on college campuses nationwide. Youth Save Democracy isn’t the type of PAC that is strictly focused on political contributions, they said. The group does “messaging and all kinds of other stuff,” Gurm said.
Spending in Fresno elections, consultant contracts raises ‘concerns’
A sizable chunk of the group’s political spending has been used on local Fresno elections and candidates.
“Many local Democrats are concerned about the ethics of using so much money from a national PAC to financially benefit so many local individuals, their friends, their consulting firms, and their friends planning to run for office,” Dee Barnes, an alternate for the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee, said in a statement to The Bee.
Gurm said cultivating and supporting young talent to run for office is part of their mission.
“We’re from the Central Valley, and doing good work in our backyard is a priority. Bench-building is a priority,” Gurm said. “We’ve supported young candidates running for local office across California and here in the Central Valley, too.”
PACs are loosely regulated
Experts say PACs tend to be loosely regulated at the federal level.
“There are no hard and fast rules for how much money federal PACs like Youth Save Democracy must spend on politics,” Beckel said.
Craig Holman, a lobbyist on ethics, lobbying and campaign finance rules for nonprofit progressive consumer watchdog Public Citizen, said the reason for this is that the government doesn’t want to be seen as stepping in as managing political campaigns.
“That’s understandable,” he said.
