Report: Moreland Commission Investigating Legislator Use of Campaign Funds

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption is investigating whether state lawmakers are misusing their campaign accounts.

Citing “to a person familiar with the investigation,” the Journal says that the Moreland Commission has subpoenaed “more than 20 entities in the past month, including state lawmakers, their campaign committees and vendors paid through campaign accounts.”

The source said that the subpoenas were sent to elected officials who have been directly reimbursed by their campaign accounts, where there was no itemization as to what they were being reimbursed for.  Subpoenas also went to campaign committee treasurers where the committee paid credit card bills or vendors without itemizing the expenses.  They appear to be looking into whether lawmakers are using their campaign funds for personal purposes.

It looks like serving as the treasurer of a campaign committee – a generally difficult and thankless position – may be getting even more difficult.

The article notes that in its December 2013 report, the Moreland Commission indicated that it was looking into campaign expenditures “to examine potential misuse of campaign funds by candidates for personal purposes.”

In his 2014-15 Executive Budget proposal, Gov. Cuomo has proposed amending Election Law § 14-130 to clarify and strengthen the prohibition on the use of campaign contributions for “personal use.”  The new language would require campaign funds to be used in a manner “that is directly related to promoting the nomination or election of a candidate or the execution of duties associated with the holding of a public office or party position.”  It would also prohibit the use of political contributions to pay fines or penalties imposed by JCOPE or the Legislative Ethics Commission.