Jason Chaffetz subject of Federal Election Commission Complaint
Complaint filed by challenger questions over half-million dollars in personal reimbursements
Provo, Utah - April 27, 2016 — Chia-Chi Teng, the Republican challenging Jason Chaffetz for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District seat, submitted an investigation request regarding Chaffetz’s campaign finances to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In the request, Teng asks the FEC to investigate unusual campaign expenditures and the personal reimbursement processes of Jason Chaffetz’s campaign and leadership committee. Specifically, the request asks for an investigation to determine if any of the half-million dollars Chaffetz has claimed in reimbursements, out-of-district road trips in campaign vehicles to Laguna Beach, CA and Phoenix, AZ, or Thanksgiving Day charges at the St. Regis Hotel in Park City were for personal purposes. It also asks for a determination on the ownership and redemption of the Delta SkyMiles acquired through the reimbursement-for-expenses practice.
“Mr. Chaffetz could have answered these questions by simply releasing - to the public - records that he’s been advised by the House Ethics Committee, the FEC and the IRS to keep. Chaffetz should release records of the $77,000 of unitemized reimbursements he has taken. He should also release campaign event logs verifying the date and related campaign purpose of the tens of thousands of dollars he has spent on hotel stays, babysitting, satellite radio, fuel and meal expenditures.
“In addition to those records, we have called for Mr. Chaffetz to produce logs showing the date, primary purpose of travel and documented de minimis personal use for all of his campaign vehicles. We have asked for cell phone bills and business records showing that reimbursements claimed from the campaign were not duplicatively claimed as expenses by businesses under his family’s or his own control. Inexplicably, Mr. Chaffetz has refused to release all of the above,” said Teng.
Chaffetz’s public response to Teng’s requests led to additional inquiries when Chaffetz revealed that he was using a Delta SkyMiles American Express card as part of the personal reimbursement cycle and stated that the motivation for the multi-step process was simplicity. Teng questioned the simplicity of the seemingly more complicated process and argued that ownership and exclusive use of the estimated half-million SkyMiles, valued at $17,500, should be held by the campaign and leadership committee, as donors had intended to support the campaign and committee - not Chaffetz personally.
“Mr. Chaffetz’s campaign has a Zions Bank credit card that he chooses not to use for these expenses. Commingling funds, excessively using a personal credit and going through the hassle of claiming reimbursements is not often done for the ‘sake of simplicity.’ Rather, it’s more often done for personal gain in the form of credit card rewards. Without the release of the records by Mr. Chaffetz, we can only estimate the value to Mr. Chaffetz personally.
“The original source of the monies used for the reported campaign expenditures and the subsequent mileage rewards personally received by Mr. Chaffetz can be traced back to campaign donors. Essentially, what we are witnessing appears to be a reimbursement process on a massive scale, resulting in a percentage of campaign contributions being available to Mr. Chaffetz for his own personal use - avoiding paying income tax in the process. This isn’t fair to donors, and this isn’t fair to the American taxpayer,” said Teng.
The complaint was filed by Teng on on Wednesday, April 27. Chaffetz and Teng will face off in the Republican Primary June 28.
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Attachment
Letter to FEC Requesting Investigation of Jason Chaffetz
