Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar improperly spent thousands of dollars in campaign funds on non-campaign expenses in 2016 and 2017 while serving in the state legislature, Minnesota’s campaign finance and public disclosure board ruled Thursday.
The state board ordered Omar to personally reimburse her campaign for just under $3,500 the campaign spent on out-of-state travel for Omar and on her joint tax returns.
Omar is also required to pay a civil penalty of $500 for using campaign funds to pay for her travel to a conference in Florida, where she received an honorarium for speaking.
Republican Minnesota state Rep. Steve Drazkowski filed the initial complaint in July 2018, alleging Omar’s campaign had paid attorneys $2,250 for services related to Omar’s 2017 marriage dissolution.
Drazkowski later amended his complaint to include the payments Omar’s campaign made for her personal travel.
While the state board did find that Omar’s campaign made improper expenditures, it did not find the $2,250 went toward Omar’s marriage dissolution.
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“In addition to complying with the Board’s findings, I plan on closing the account from my State House race and distributing the funds to organizations that help train first-time candidates to run for office—so that the next generation of candidates and their teams know how to adequately track and report campaign expenses. I also believe we need to dedicate more resources to our campaign finance agencies—and I look forward to supporting these efforts,” Omar said.
*see full story by The Daily Caller