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Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s presidential
campaign must repay $52,443 to taxpayers
Thursday, February 17, 2011
By Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Federal Election Commission on Thursday ordered
Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s 2004 presidential campaign to give taxpayers a
$52,443 refund, ending a dispute that’s lasted nearly four years.
Kucinich’s 2004 campaign got $3.3 million in matching funds from the
U.S. Treasury, but wasn’t supposed to use any of it after March 4,
2004, when his eligibility for matching funds expired because he failed
to receive 10 percent of the vote in two consecutive primary elections.
Despite that, the FEC found the Cleveland Democratic congressman used
at least $175,696 that contained some matching funds to keep
campaigning until July 29, when the Democratic party officially picked
John Kerry as its nominee.
Although Kucinich contended he campaigned only with privately raised
cash after the ineligibility date, FEC found the $1.9 million Kucinich
spent after his eligibility expired exceeded the $1.7 million he
collected in that time.
Because the campaign “did not receive sufficient private contributions
to cover the total amount that it spent on continuing to campaign
expenses, it had to use matching funds to pay for some of those
expenses instead,” the FEC ruling said.
The FEC sought more than $130,000 from Kucinich after its initial 2007
audit, but reduced the amount after years of appeals from Kucinich.
Kucinich campaign treasurer Donald J. McTigue filed a letter with FEC
on Wednesday that said the campaign is “willing to raise additional
contributions” to make the repayment and will not exercise its right to
appeal although it “respectfully disagrees with the basis for the
repayment determination.”
“We are pleased with the way it turned out,” McTigue said in an
interview.
Read it in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
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