California Republican Congressman And Wife Indicted On Campaign Finance Violations
A California Republican and veteran service member has been indicted on multiple charges concerning using campaign funds for personal expenses, as his campaign manager/wife.
Political campaigns, especially for federal or state-wide offices, can be very expensive affairs, costing millions of dollars. The last presidential campaigns cost Hillary Clinton $1.4 billion dollars, while Donald Trump’s campaign to become President of the United States cost $957.6 million.
Whenever that amount of money is running into coffers for a specific purpose, there is always the chance that someone will abuse the opportunity to take a large sum of money and use it for their own purposes. In this case, that someone, allegedly, just happens to be the person for whom the political campaign was raising the money in the first place. A California Republican, a five-term representative for his district, said that he didn’t abuse his funds, and that “if I did, it was an accident.”
Maybe San Diego simply rubbed off on him?
United States Representative Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, and his wife, Margaret Hunter, were indicted yesterday on charges concerning the improper use of campaign funds.
Namely, they were alleged to have used these funds for private use, rather than for the political campaign.
A grand jury in San Diego, California, indicted the Hunter pair on charges concerning filing false campaign finance records and claimed that the couple misappropriated more than a quarter-million dollars for their personal uses.
Among other expenditures, the Department of Justice said that the couple used the money to cover their children’s tuition.They also allegedly spent thousands of campaign dollars at shopping malls, restaurants in Washington, and surf shops, to name just a few places that money went.
Worse still, the indictment claimed that not only did they misallocate this money, but that Hunter (who represents California’s 50th Congressional District), made efforts to hide the improper use of the campaign funds.
According to the charging document, they labeled fees for dental work as contributions to a charity called ‘Smiles for Life,’ and they declared money spent on tickets to see Riverdance as a fundraising expenditure for an event for ‘Republican Women.’
Hunter, who was a Major (O-4) in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, contributing during the Global War on Terror.
He comes from a family that has been a name in California politics for decades. Indeed, his father, also named Duncan Hunter, was in office for nearly three decades before retiring.
When the claims came to light, Duncan Hunter the younger allegedly first blamed his wife, who worked as his campaign manager, for the charges.
He said that she controlled the campaign credit card and that thus she was responsible.
In a February interview with Politico, he simply feigned ignorance, saying that he knew the rules and that if there was some sort of misspent money, it was an accident, and he paid the money back out of his own pocket.
To a degree, that’s true; Hunter did repay $60,000 to his campaign, which was done to cover improper expenses charged to the campaign dating back to 2015.
However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation found additional charges, some of which date back to 2009, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The indictment, which came in the form of a 47-page document, called their actions a conspiracy and suggested that the goal of the said conspiracy was to “enrich” themselves, and others, by “converting campaign funds” for their own uses.
Essentially, because they couldn’t afford many of the things that they purchased on the congressman’s $174,000 annual salary, they instead used campaign funds to purchase the things that they wanted.
Incidentally, in a speech earlier in August, he echoed statements by President Donald Trump, condemning the Justice Department and declaring that the agency was corrupt and answered to no one.
He also said that the agency used its power, and the law, to extort the American people, and to bring about political changes.
When he was asked by outlets like HuffPost how he thought he was doing in the polls before lawmakers left D.C. for their August break, Duncan said that he felt things were good, and that he wasn’t likely to be swept away by the allegedly imminent ‘blue wave’ that the Democrats still claim is coming.
He said that “the Republicans left in California are pretty well-liked” by the people in their constituencies.
It would be a shame for a man who served in the Marine field artillery, and served as one of the few republican politicians from California, to have his career meet such an ignoble end.
However, if he is guilty as charged, this upcoming November midterm election will likely become much more difficult not just for Hunter, but for all republicans who might take his place in the 50th district in California.
Source:>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Here
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