The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct recently clarified the application of House rules to the practice of Members making multiple flight reservations (to “improve the Member’ ability to provide representational services for which they were elected”). The memorandum discusses the Senate’s treatment of this practice.
Texas Penalty
The Texas Ethics Commission fined a candidate $10,000 for allegedly using campaign funds for improper expenses. The Final Order is online.
Personal Use In the News
There are additional stories alleging the personal use of campaign funds in New York:
NEW YORK — David Paterson, who became the governor of New York Monday after Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, may have broken state campaign finance laws when he used campaign cash to pay for a hotel room for a woman with whom he was having an affair, the New York Daily News reported Thursday. Paterson and his wife, Michelle, acknowledged Tuesday that both had had extramarital affairs during a rough patch in their marriage.
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The Daily News on Thursday cited campaign finance documents that show Paterson made a $500 payment to a woman with whom sources said he had an affair. The payment was listed in campaign documents as “professional services.”
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