Ilhan Omar is being investigated in Minnesota for the misuse of campaign funds. Allegedly, she used campaign contributions to help pay for her divorce from her brother. She also charged the campaign for travel to Estonia and Boston.
She has already been forced to return $2,500 in speaking fees because members of the Minnesota legislature are not allowed to accept fees for speaking. As they began looking at her campaign filings, they became suspicious of many of the transactions.
The investigation is said to be over but now they have to compile a report and decide what if any punishment she should receive. At a minimum, I would think they would make her pay back the ineligible expenses.
Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is facing a probe into her campaign spending after complaints alleged that she misused contributions for personal use, according to a report published on Monday.
The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board is investigating Omar after Minnesota GOP State Rep. Steve Drazkowski filed two complaints alleging she spent nearly $6,000 in campaign funds for personal use while she served in the Minnesota legislature, reported WJLA. Some of the improper expenditures include payments to Omar’s divorce attorney and spending on travel to Boston and Estonia.
“I had observed a long pattern,” Drazkowski told WJLA. “Representative Omar hasn’t followed the law. She’s repeatedly trampled on the laws of the state in a variety of areas, and gotten by with it.”
The campaign finance allegations come on the heels of a separate incident where the freshman congresswoman had to return $2,500 in speaking fees, according to The Pioneer Press. Omar accepted payment from Normandale Community College and Inver Hills Community College in 2017, despite Minnesota House rules barring lawmakers from accepting speaking fees from entities with business at the Legislature.