State Sen. Sandy Greiner (R-Keota) will not step down as leader of a controversial nonprofit group that spent nearly $10 million in 2010 trying to defeat Democrats around in the country, including more than $1 million against U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa).

Greiner was sworn in Monday for her first term in the state Senate. She served previously as a state representative before re-entering politics by founding a political action committee aimed at convincing Gov.-elect Terry Branstad to run for a fifth term. She then joined the Des Moines based American Future Fund. In an e-mail to The Iowa Independent, Greiner said she stepped down from the board of directors of the group’s political action committee. However, she will remain as president of the organization’s regular board of directors.

Before the election, good-government watchdogs publicly called for Greiner to distance herself from the group, which is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)4 nonprofit, and therefore, doesn’t have to disclose where it gets its funding. Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist with the group Public Citizen, told the Iowa City Press Citizen’s Emily Schettler that the the situation was “clearly a conflict of interest, and it would violate campaign finance law if she were running at the federal level.”

Greiner defended her position at the time, saying she would re-evaluate things after the election.

In addition to Greiner, the group has numerous ties to Gov.-elect Branstad, including his biggest campaign contributors and several members of his inner circle of advisers.