GOP congressman spent $70K in campaign cash on meals

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Politico

Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio has used donors' cash for 370 food-related expenditures since 2017.

By ALLY MUTNICK
09/08/2020 07:20 PM EDT

Dinners at international sushi bars, steakhouses and a wine boutique. A $220 meal in London. A $300 meal in a posh hotel in Belgium on Boxing Day.

Rep. Mike Turner has used campaign funds for hundreds of trips to restaurants — and occasionally to stay at lavish hotels — according to a POLITICO analysis of the Ohio Republican’s campaign-finance filings over the past 3½ years.

He has spent over $70,000 from his campaign account since 2017 to fund meals at some 370 meetings. The individual receipts are fairly modest in most cases — typically ranging from $12 to a few hundred dollars. But together, ethics watchdogs say, they suggest a consistent pattern: Turner uses his donors to subsidize his personal dining costs, expensing an average of two meals a week.

Turner, a nine-term member who represents southwestern Ohio, is already facing increased scrutiny as he prepares for what might be his toughest reelection campaign since he was first elected in 2002. House Democrats are targeting his district, which President Donald Trump carried by 7 points in 2016, and he was outraised last quarter by his Democratic opponent, Desiree Tims.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/08/mike-turner-campaign-money-meals-410344

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Rep. Mike Turner

[bluecollar2]

1. Slimeball....n/t

[TruckFump]

2. Well-fed Slimeball. EOM.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Trump's going to be pitch a fit when he hears they didn't get anything for him.

[DFW]

3. Donor money? As in campaign contributions?

For meals in England and Belgium? Just what donors was he courting in England and Belgium? Or was it just that he didn't want a Russian entry stamp in his passport during an election, and decided to meet his masters on neutral ground?

[DeminPennswoods]

5. The real suckers are the small donors

who contributed to his campaign. Hope they liked treating Turner to a meal or two.

[Vinca]

6. How Trumpian.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. O*H*I*O!

Crooked Mike Turner has got to go!!

There's your campaign chant Desiree.

[NCjack]

8. That would be OK with me, IF and only IF, he used this approach to

not accept any meetings with lobbyists in exchange for anything of value.

The Repuke congress critters are hogs at the trough. Better he put the costs on his supporters.

[MissMillie]

9. I wonder what a $300 meal tastes like

Our household spends $300/month on food--including food for our 4 pets.

If I were making donations to candidates (something I obviously can't afford to to) I wouldn't want to hear that the candidate were throwing my money around like this.

[Mazeltov Cocktail]

10. Actually, all you have to know is that he is a republican...