Rep Duncan Hunter and his wife indicted in use of campaign funds for personal expenses

cml750 · Aug 23, 2018

If he is proven to have done these things he deserves whatever is coming to him.

juicystream · Aug 23, 2018

cml750 said: ↑

If he is proven to have done these things he deserves whatever is coming to him.
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The Presidential pardon?

cml750 · Aug 23, 2018

juicystream said: ↑

The Presidential pardon?
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I seriously doubt he will get one if this is proven true.

Amiga · Aug 23, 2018

NewRoxFan said: ↑

O.M.G...

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That's a lot of burgers.

Amiga · Aug 23, 2018

cml750 said: ↑

I seriously doubt he will get one if this is proven true.
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He shouldn't. But the power of pardon has been abused by Trump.

Nippystix · Aug 23, 2018

NewRoxFan said: ↑

O.M.G...

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If the Pet Rabbit Airline Ticket is included in either the Family Trip to Italy or the Family Trip to Hawaii line item, then that's double-counting, and this entire witch hunt is deemed invalid. Right?!

You couldn't write a more ridiculous script.

mdrowe00 · Aug 23, 2018

Buck Turgidson said: ↑

Is it true that Hunter was on a golf course, paid for with campaign funds, when the indictment was handed down?
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That's where they would've found me.

And I don't even play golf...

...hard to beat a deal like "free"...

juicystream · Aug 23, 2018

cml750 said: ↑

I seriously doubt he will get one if this is proven true.
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You're right, Trump will be out of office by then.

NewRoxFan · Aug 23, 2018

Ruh roh... it appears there may be a little marital discord brewing the in hunter household...

NewRoxFan · Aug 23, 2018

LOL...

MexAmercnMoose · Aug 23, 2018

lol, another one...not surprised

Nook · Aug 23, 2018

NewRoxFan said: ↑

O.M.G...

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White privilege.

He blew his suckers... I mean supporters campaign funds on mediocre fast food, pet airline tickets and groceries.

Has anyone asked Mike Pence what he thinks of spending campaign funds for personal expenses? At least Pence just paid his rent when he did it.

Nook · Aug 23, 2018

MadMax said: ↑

“We're going to win so much. You're going to get tired of winning. you’re going to say, ‘Please Mr. President, I have a headache. Please, don't win so much. This is getting terrible.’ And I'm going to say, ‘No, we have to make America great again.’ You're gonna say, ‘Please.’ I said, ‘Nope, nope. We're gonna keep winning.’
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Now imagine Barrack Obama saying the same thing, the same way. Would he get away with it? No, only Trump gets away with mediocre and sophomoric drivel.

Hakeemtheking · Aug 24, 2018

NewRoxFan said: ↑

LOL...

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Wow. This is getting ugly. Do these two idiots have kids? First, feel sorry for them children if they do. Second, any offspring coming out of this couple will need a lot of help. Not too bright.

NewRoxFan · Aug 24, 2018

Here's fox news...trying to help duncan hunter's campaign as only they can...

Amiga · Aug 24, 2018

NewRoxFan said: ↑

Here's fox news...trying to help duncan hunter's campaign as only they can...

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Embarrassing, even for Fox

NewRoxFan · Sep 5, 2018

No wonder the sparks were flying between hunter and his wife...

B-Bob · Sep 5, 2018

txtony said: ↑

Embarrassing, even for Fox
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So, for the FOX apologists: are the acts of a candidates grandparents -- all of them, I presume -- now "news" in political reporting? Wow, there's a lot of digging to do here.

Os Trigonum · Sep 7, 2018

hard to believe, this is Marion Barry territory

https://reason.com/archives/2018/09/07/few-alternatives-to-rep-duncan-hunter

Despite Indictment, Rep. Duncan Hunter Remains Favorite to Win Another Term in Congress
The Republican lawmaker is accused of misusing campaign dollars for for personal expenses including a trip to Italy, massive bar tabs and video games.

Steven Greenhut | September 7, 2018

It's hard to be too surprised about the recent indictment of Rep. Duncan Hunter, the San Diego-area Republican accused (along with his wife) of using $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses including a trip to Italy, massive bar tabs and video games. OK, it's startling whenever any congressman faces charges, but the federal indictment probably won't shock those who have followed past news reports about a man sometimes mocked as a member of the GOP "Bros Caucus" because of his apparent frat-boy lifestyle.

The 47-page indictment also accuses the couple of filing false campaign-finance records. There's the allegation that his wife, Margaret, spent $152 on cosmetics and told the campaign they were gift-basket items for a charity. Even tackier, the Justice Department alleges that when Rep. Hunter wanted to buy "Hawaii shorts," his wife allegedly told him to buy them at a golf pro shop so they could attribute the expense to balls for wounded warriors. We've long known about the $600 to fly their pet rabbit on a trip—something the campaign attributes to an innocent billing mistake. But there's little mistaking the lifestyle enjoyed by this servant of the people.

The Hunters pleaded not guilty and deny the allegations. Rep. Hunter's statement accuses the Justice Department of waging a political witch hunt designed to harm his re-election chances. He said the campaign made mistakes but they repaid those things.

The scandal still brings to mind the late journalist H.L. Mencken's observation about politicians in general: "These men...are seldom if ever moved by anything rationally describable as public spirit; there is actually no more public spirit among them than among so many burglars or street-walkers. Their purpose, first, last and all the time, is to promote their private advantage, and to that end...they exercise all the vast powers that are in their hands."

I'm not as cynical as Mencken, but two elements of Hunter scandal still seem amazing. First, after the indictment was issued Rep. Hunter seemed to have thrown his wife under the bus. Then when journalists started asking questions about Margaret's role in this, Duncan demanded that they leave his wife out of it. That's an unseemly approach, and something that may upset some voters more than the details of the indictment itself.

Here's what the congressman originally told Fox News: "When I went to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney, and she handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress. She was also the campaign manager so whatever she did, that'll be looked at too, I'm sure. But I didn't do it. I didn't spend any money illegally." Then Rep. Hunter recently told the media: "Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it. It's me they're after, anyway." That's a decent recovery, but who wouldn't have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the Hunter household after the first quotation?

But probably the most interesting news is that despite this terrible publicity, Duncan Hunter remains the odds-on favorite to retain his congressional seat in November. The latest polls give him an eight-point lead over Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar. The San Diego Union-Tribune's Joshua Emerson Smith captured the Democrats' problem with admirable understatement: "Campa-Najjar, the son of a Mexican-American mother and a Middle Eastern father, doesn't appear to be an obvious fit for the deeply conservative district. A staunch environmentalist, he's also the grandson of Muhammed Yusuf al-Najjar, the head of the intelligence wing of the Palestinian political party Fatah, whose members planned the murder of Israeli Olympians in 1972. Yusuf al-Najjar was subsequently assassinated by the Israeli government."

The 29 year-old Campa-Najjar notes that his grandfather died 16 years before he was born and has renounced his legacy, which is fair enough. You can't blame someone for his grandfather's past. Campa-Najjar has also built ties with the local Jewish community. But he's still not "an obvious fit" for the pro-Trump district when you look at his progressive policy positions. Of course, this is the problem with our increasingly polarized politics.

As the GOP moves in a nationalistic direction, the Democratic Party moves in a leftist direction. Even if your side's candidate is despicable—and refer back to Mencken, who viewed all politicians that way—the other side's candidate is almost always going to be unacceptable. How many Republican voters there, appalled by the allegations in the indictment, will be comfortable voting for Hunter's alternative?

Unfortunately, California's top-two primary means that only Hunter and Campa-Najjar will be on the November ballot for the 50th congressional district. There are no third-party candidates and no chance to even write in a protest vote. So no one should be surprised when a damaged-goods congressman wins another term in the House of Representatives.

Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998-2009. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.

This column was first published in the Orange County Register.
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NewRoxFan · Feb 22, 2019

LOL... he's back... and he has to get campaign donors to illegally help him pay his legal defense fees...

Rep. Duncan Hunter gets help with legal expenses from government contractors, others

Nine donors, including at least two who had already reached political contribution limits, gave $30,800 in the last quarter of 2018 to help pay for Rep. Duncan Hunter’s legal defense, a new financial report shows. The Republican Congressman representing Alpine and his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret, faced criminal investigations into their alleged use of political money for personal purposes. The two were indicted in August and have pleaded not guilty to all 60 charges.
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The special fund for Hunter’s legal expenses is administered by a trustee and is separate from his political campaign treasury, which has already paid at least $682,100 to lawyers since June 2016. The quarterly financial report for Hunter’s legal expense fund was released to the San Diego Union-Tribune by the Washington, D.C.,-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The report, which covers fundraising and spending from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, shows $30,800 in itemized contributions and no spending. The legal fund was established in March. In total it has received at least $60,800 and spent at least $27,062, the reports show. The fund has not reported any expenditures since June.
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But unlike campaign finance reports, information about the legal funds is not readily available online and more easily avoids public scrutiny.
“For some very rich donors, legal defense funds give a second bite at the apple, after they have already given a candidate the maximum donation allowable by law,” Libowitz said. “Because you have to show up in person to Congress to request a physical copy of each filing, most people do not know who is giving to support a scandal-plagued lawmaker.” As of June 30, Hunter’s legal expense fund had been bankrolled primarily by people and subsidiaries connected to large companies that work on multi-million-dollar contracts for the federal government, disclosure reports show.
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https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/sd-me-hunter-lawyers-20190221-story.html

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Rep Duncan Hunter and his wife indicted in use of campaign funds for personal expenses

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Rep Duncan Hunter and his wife indicted in use of campaign funds for personal expenses

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