Complaint alleges campaign finance violation by Rep. Ilhan Omar

[question everything]

A conservative group filed a complaint Wednesday alleging that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar illegally used campaign funds to pay travel expenses for the consultant whose wife has accused him of an affair with the Minnesota Democrat. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in Falls Church, Va., asserted in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that Omar’s campaign paid Tim Mynett’s E Street Group thousands of dollars for travel while he and Omar were in a relationship.

(snip)

The FEC complaint filed Wednesday charges Omar’s campaign with violating federal law that prohibits the use of campaign funds for travel-related personal expenses unless they are reimbursed.

Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer in George W. Bush’s White House and a University of Minnesota law professor, said the issue is whether the Omar campaign’s payments to E Street Group were “fair compensation.” The same question would apply if the campaign had paid an Omar relative, he said. “If I were the FEC I’d ask for backup material” to verify the expenditures’ validity, he said.

Painter noted that Omar’s campaign faced finance issues dating to her tenure in the Minnesota House. In June, she was ordered to reimburse her own campaign account more than $3,000 and pay a $500 fine for violating state regulations.

More..

http://www.startribune.com/complaint-alleges-campaign-finance-violation-by-rep-ilhan-omar/558614112/

[Hekate]

1. "A conservative group" is digging dirt on all our Dems, as they said they would do. ...

Let's not get all self-righteous and help the Repubs/Trumpites. Instead, let us proceed with all due caution and consider the source and the amount of manufactured outrage coming from that side.

[sharedvalues]

2. Terrible headline.

"Conservative group files complaint for show"
is a mch better headline.

Most people only read headlines.

Painter noted that Omar’s campaign faced finance issues dating to her tenure in the Minnesota House. In June, she was ordered to reimburse her own campaign account more than $3,000 and pay a $500 fine for violating state regulations.

Come on. $3000? People make mistakes. This is not evidence of malfeasance.

[Thekaspervote]

3. Typical.. RWNG... they know they are becoming less and less significant and will strike at anyone

[Trenzalore]

4. They don't have a quorum right now to authorize an investigation

Which in my opinion is purposeful so that the Orange one can do all kinds of crazy shit.

[Freethinker65]

5. Not good.

However, you just know had she been male using campaign funds to pay his spouse, kids, other friends and relatives, and or mistresses, he would get a small fine and slap on the wrist in public and high fives behind closed doors.

And whatever happened to the investigation into Melania's friend, the questionable event inauguration planner and other campaign funds siphoned off by Trump?

[dflprincess]

7. If she were male AND a "Christian"

this would never have become an issue.

[uponit7771]

9. +1

[htuttle]

6. I don't care

Not one bit.

[Skidmore]

8. I hope this is straightened out soon.

Frankly, while I support those four women in their offices, they do need to get their acts together and stop providing unnecessary targets for the right. None of them are running for office now. Just doing their jobs right now as elected for will suffice.

[uponit7771]

10. "stop providing unnecessary targets for the right." They're skin is not white, they'll always be ...

... targets of the white supremacist republican party of the right.

I wouldn't hold the rights judgement of what's good or bad to any esteem any longer, they've lost the benefit of the doubt.

[Skidmore]

11. Not referring to

their skin color. I would like to see them tone it down a bit with responses. That's all I said.

[uponit7771]

12. Understood, because they're not white there's NOTHING They can do to tone it down. They'll ...

... always be the focus of hate because of their skin color.

Even if they're toned down the white supremacist enablers on the right will make something up, it's the 4 womens skin color not their words or actions that get them the attention of the right.

[JI7]

13. i stopped reading at "a conservative group"

[question everything]

14. Nothing you, or anyone else can do

She is generating too many headlines to be effective. Rerun of Franken but this is the life of individuals in public place. Ignoring this will not help her.

[JonLP24]

15. That is the media's problem

When Ilhan Omar Is Accused of Anti-Semitism, It’s News. When a Republican Smears Muslims, There’s Silence.

So you might think the media — and the Democrats — would be all over Brooks and the Republicans, right?

Right?

Not quite. I asked Parker Molloy, of Media Matters for America, to check the numbers. In terms of cable news, Molloy found that in the seven days after Omar’s “Benjamins” tweet, “Fox News mentioned her during 21 shows, CNN in 53, and five on MSNBC.” The freshman Democrat’s name, according to a Lexis search, was also mentioned in a whopping 479 newspaper articles.

And in the seven days since Brooks’s remarks? Zero mentions of him in the national press. Zero coverage of him on network and cable news. Not one story; not one report.

On Tuesday, Waleed Shahid, communications director for Justice Democrats, tweeted out a clip of Brooks’s remarks, pointing out that it had received “nearly half a million views” on Twitter, yet had received “virtually no coverage” in the mainstream press.

https://theintercept.com/2019/08/28/when-ilhan-omar-is-accused-of-anti-semitism-its-news-when-a-republican-smears-muslims-theres-silence/

[question everything]

18. I am sorry. Who is Brooks? The NYT and PBS commentator?

What did he say? I obviously missed it.

[JonLP24]

19. A Republican congressman made a bunch of Islamaphobic comments and the media barely covered it

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. They only care about campaign finance violations when it involves Democrats

Don't see them expending any effort on the Trump campaign irregularities.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. Fuck the Strib for asking Richard Painter to comment on this, and fuck Richard Painter.

[Initech]

20. I'm guessing that dipshit Jacob Wohl has something to do with this?

Guy running the world's worst intelligence agency?