CfA Calls for FEC Investigation into Rep. Lauren Boebert for Improper Use of Campaign Funds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 8, 2021
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a nonprofit watchdog group focused on public accountability, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Representative Lauren Boebert and her campaign for using campaign funds to reimburse herself over $21,000, allegedly for mileage. Boebert’s campaign also failed to maintain required records of her expenses.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Rep. Boebert’s mileage claim doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s also quite a coincidence that the amount she reimbursed herself is just a little more than the $19,000 in liens she repaid in October 2020.”
According to FEC filings, Lauren Boebert for Congress reimbursed Lauren Boebert an exorbitant $21,199.52 for personal vehicle mileage over a seven-month period, which, at the standard reimbursement rate of 57.5 cents per mile, equates to 36,868 miles driven. It also appears that Rep. Boebert’s campaign failed to maintain required mileage logs that would support the legitimacy of the charges.
While Rep. Boebert’s district is relatively large, its size still does not seem to account for the mileage reimbursed to her from the campaign. In an independent review, The Denver Post catalogued all 80 public events Rep. Boebert hosted in her district in 2020 and “used global positioning software to calculate the distance driven to, from, and between them – assuming Boebert attended every event on the schedule and began and ended each day at her home in Silt.” The paper calculated Rep. Boebert could have driven a maximum of 17,623 miles on campaign travel for all of 2020 – less than half of what she claimed to have driven in just seven months.
Rep. Boebert received more in personal travel reimbursements in a single year than her predecessor, Rep. Scott Tipton, received over a ten-year period. Remarkably, during this same seven-month period, Rep. Boebert paid off $18,999.36 in liens against her business, Shooters Grill, a gun-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado. Rep. Boebert has failed to respond to reporters who have asked how the liens were paid off.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “The law prohibits candidates from converting campaign funds to their personal use. Rep. Boebert’s conduct is reminiscent of Tea Party darling and Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, who was sued by the FEC in 2015, after the commission found she had spent $20,000 on living expenses. The FEC must investigate and hold Rep. Boebert accountable.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.