Top House Democrats have reportedly been paying their family members and thousands of dollars in campaign funds ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
According to the reports, Top Democrats Maxine Waters and James Clyburn are still using their campaign funds to pay members who have been helping bolster their campaign status.
In a recent report released by Fox News, it was revealed that Waters, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee chairwoman, has “paid a total of $16,000 to the congresswoman’s daughter in four separate payments in July and September of this year.”
Her daughter, Karen Waters, has reportedly been “organizing slate-mailing operations to bolster her mother’s re-election since 2003, and her company, Progressive Connections, has received more than $1.2 million from Waters’ campaign over the past nearly two decades.”
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing released by Citizens for Waters, this week, revealed that the congresswoman’s daughter has already received a total of $16,000 from the committee this quarter for “slate mailer management fees.”
Slate-mailing is new in federal elections. It is a practice where politicians hire consulting firms to create a pamphlet of sorts, containing a list of candidates or policy measures and advising voters on how to cast their ballots. However, Waters, D-Calif., is the only federal politician to use a slate-mailer operation.
Fox News also exposed Waters for hiring other members of her family who have also made off with donor cash amid the congresswoman’s decades-long career.
The Los Angeles Times revealed in 2004 how the Waters campaign had spent more than $1 million on other family members over the previous eight years.
Moreover, the FEC records also revealed that House majority whip, Clyburn had also shelled out money to his family members, paying a total of $7,500 for his re-election campaign, specifically for “office rent” in August to a company called 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC.
According to South Carolina business records, “Walter A. Reed, who is married to Clyburn’s daughter, Jennifer Clyburn Reed, is the registered agent of the limited liability company. LittleSis lists her as the co-owner of the property investment company.”
Reports also disclosed that Clyburn has paid almost $80,000 in campaign funds to the company since March 2020.
“Clyburn’s grandson, Walter A.C. Reed, who is managing Clyburn’s re-election campaign, received five $3,500 payments between July and September, totaling $17,500, from Friends of Jim Clyburn. Reed also received a $500 “travel stipend” in August and a $223.87 payment for “vehicle repair” in September from the campaign. He has now received over $75,000 from the Clyburn campaign since last October,” the report added.
