Adams Leadership PAC: $1.22 Million Out, and $258,103 to the Treasurer’s Firm

1. Start Here

IN PLAIN WORDSA leadership PAC is a political committee a lawmaker sponsors. It collects money from companies, groups and people, and gives it to other campaigns or spends it on political work. This one is sponsored by Senate President J. Stuart Adams. Its treasurer, Kyle Palmer, is a consultant whose firm the PAC also pays. That arrangement is legal in Utah and is disclosed on the PAC’s reports.

What the records show

• Spending grew in 2026. The PAC reported $69,552.09 out in 2021 and $511,977.86 in the first nine months of 2026, its largest year.
• The treasurer’s firm is the PAC’s largest payee. Irish Elk LLC was paid $258,103.65 from 2021 through 2026. Kyle Palmer was also paid $17,837.47 personally in 2020 through 2024, listed as fundraising fees and similar items.
• $100,000 went to Adams’s own campaign in 2026: $45,000 on Jan. 12 and $55,000 on July 22, a month after the June 23 primary.
• Election Hive was paid $94,594.72 across the PAC’s life, including $68,000 during the 2026 primary.
• The Utah Republican Party received $71,903.73, including $48,603.73 on May 20, 2026.
• Travel: $86,181.27 to airlines and travel agencies from 2023 through 2025.
• The account ended the Sept. 30th period with $622.43, after starting the period with $180,001.43.

2. Words Used on This Page

3. Who Runs It

The PAC’s Statement of Organization lists:

• Created: Sept. 5, 2019
• Primary Officer 1: Stuart Adams, listed as Senate President
• Primary Officer 2 and Treasurer/CFO: Kyle Palmer, listed as a consultant
• Address: 1123 E Fairfield Road, PO Box 1949, Layton

Adams lost the June 23, 2026 Republican primary for Senate District 7 to Stephanie Hollist. He remains Senate President until his term ends. See the SD-7 case file.

Kyle Palmer is also treasurer of the Utah Republican Senate Campaign Committee (PAC-17), which Adams also helps run, and of UHREC, the House Speaker Leadership PAC and NUPAC.

4. The Money, Year by Year

IN PLAIN WORDSThe PAC spent little in its first months and the most in 2024 and 2026.

Money in: $1,279,352 from 2019 through Sept. 25, 2026, counting $12,000 of in-kind gifts in 2026 (Snowbasin/Ski Utah $8,000 and the Utah Restaurant Association $4,000). The 2026 report counts $365,901 in contributions; the export shows $377,901, and the $12,000 difference equals those two in-kind gifts.

Excluded from the 2021 total: $1,025 in bank and returned-check lines (a $25 Zions Bank stop-payment fee and a $1,000 returned contribution listed as “Zions Bank/Tourism Works PAC”). The exports include 71 entries marked deleted; deleted entries are not counted. Amending a report is allowed and common.

5. Where the Money Went

Each amount is the total of entries in the PAC’s own exports and reports for that payee. Other payees are not shown.

Other payments noted in the records

• John Adams for Commissioner: $5,000 (Jan. 18, 2026)
• 2020: Matt Hymas for State School Board $5,000; an ALEC policy conference $5,000; the Senate President’s Dinner (LUX Events) $4,740.71
• 2019: the PAC opened with a $100 “establishing balance” deposit from Kyle Palmer, repaid to him Dec. 30, 2019

6. The 2026 September 30th Report

Period June 12 to Sept. 25, 2026, submitted Sept. 25 (due Sept. 30). Beginning balance $180,001.43; contributions $30,500; spending $209,879; ending balance $622.43. Every itemized line below adds up to the report’s totals.

Money in, $30,500

Money out, $209,879

Timing, from the report’s dates: $135,957.34 was paid from June 15 through June 23, primary day, and $18,921.66 on June 24. The Republican State Leadership Committee’s $15,000 is dated June 24, the day after the primary. The $55,000 to Adams’s campaign is dated July 22.

Roost Company also appears in the HD-6 case file, where it is Rep. Rob Bishop’s largest vendor. Election Hive also appears in the UT-2 case file.

7. People and Firms in This Record

8. Graded by the Rubric

How to read these: a C means the record meets what Utah law requires, the status quo. A B or A means the PAC went beyond it, and the record shows it. D means something is vague or bundled, or a public check is weakened; F means something required is missing, or a check is removed with nothing in its place. Power uses the Hive’s fixed money scale, the same for every committee and party: A = 90% or more of counted money from individual people; B = 67–89%; C = 34–66%; D = 10–33%; F = under 10%. Overall is the average of the graded rows (A = 4 … F = 0; N/A and dashes left out), with a plus or minus showing where it falls between letters. Grades judge the record, not the people, and change when the record changes.

Going beyond the law would look like: saying on each report what each consulting payment bought, and raising most of the money from individual people.

9. Questions to Ask, and Who Can Answer

• Ask the Lieutenant Governor’s elections office (disclosure@utah.gov, 801-538-1041):Does Utah have any rule on a PAC treasurer’s own business being paid by the PAC, and where is it written?
• Ask your state senator or representative:Would you support requiring PAC reports to say what each consulting payment bought?
• Ask the Lieutenant Governor’s elections office:What happens to a leadership PAC’s remaining money when its sponsor leaves office?

10. Limits of This Page

• Totals are sums of the entries in the PAC’s exports and reports. Deleted entries are left out.
• Money in by year was not recorded for 2021 through 2025, only the combined total.
• This page does not say what any consulting payment bought, because the records do not say.
• Individual donors are counted but not named here; their names are on the state’s reports.
• Corrections are welcome at webercountyhive@gmail.com and will be made and dated on this page.

11. Sources