Rep. David Schweikert’s (R-Ariz.) campaign committee will pay a $125,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) after acknowledging it misreported expenditures and used some donor money for personal purposes.
In a conciliation agreement with the FEC signed in January and released last week, Schweikert’s campaign committee acknowledged that FEC investigators had found reason to believe that the misreported spending had been willful.
The agreement comes after the House Ethics Committee concluded that Schweikert’s campaign paid for personal expenses including dry cleaning, child care and flight upgrades for Schweikert’s personal travel. In the wake of that investigation, Schweikert acknowledged violating 11 rules and paid a $50,000 fine.
The FEC said tens of thousands of dollars in spending had been improperly reported using vague labels meant to obscure the true reason for the spending.
Schweikert’s campaign pinned the blame on Oliver Schwab, the congressman’s former campaign manager and chief of staff. Schwab, the agreement says, submitted false consulting invoices to the Schweikert campaign to “conceal the true purpose of certain disbursements.”
“No one has been more directly harmed by the malfeasance of Rep. Schweikert’s former chief of staff than Friends of David Schweikert,” said Chris Baker, a spokesman for the campaign. “This matter arose after Friends of David Schweikert became fully aware of the extent of the former chief of staff’s violations and self-reported them to the FEC. And while he has had no relationship or involvement with the campaign committee for several years now, we felt it was the right thing to self report his violations and enter into a conciliation agreement with the FEC.”
In a separate agreement with the FEC, Schwab admitted to violating federal campaign law by failing to maintain proper records. Schwab will pay a $7,500 penalty.
Schwab’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Schwab had been Schweikert’s top aide since the congressman won his Scottsdale-based district in the 2010 midterm elections. He left Schweikert’s official office in 2018 in the midst of the House Ethics Committee probe.
Schweikert at the time said allegations of improper spending were little more than a “bookkeeping issue.”
The fine levied against Schweikert’s campaign is hefty by the FEC’s typical standards. It is certain to come up in this year’s midterm elections, in which Schweikert faces a potentially difficult challenge after absorbing tens of thousands of new voters in the decennial redistricting process.
Schweikert’s new district is one of three in Arizona that are competitive between Democrats and Republicans. He faces several potential Democratic challengers, including Jevin Hodge (D), who ran for a seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2020, and Adam Metzendorf (D), a former executive with the Phoenix Suns.