New reporting is highlighting how Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign paid her son thousands of dollars – before filing a new quarterly finance report that removed any evidence of the payment.
This is the latest in a pattern of disregard for the law from Miller-Meeks, after she faced ethics complaints regarding questions about her residency and failure to properly file her personal financial disclosure.
Questions Miller-Meeks must answer:
- How often are you yourself making payments out of your campaign account?
- Why did it take more than three weeks to notice that you paid your son out of the “incorrect” account?
- Why did you file the payment to your son as a “campaign consulting” expense?
- The payment amount – $3,500 – is an incredibly specific amount of money, and also happens to be the maximum individual contribution to a primary campaign. What do you say about that coincidence?
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“The facts are clear: Mariannette Miller-Meeks gave thousands of campaign dollars to her son, before trying to cover it up when she got caught. Miller-Meeks is either incompetent, a liar, or both – no matter how you slice it, her cover-up is insulting and one of the many reasons Iowans will fire her next year.”
Iowa Starting Line: Miller-Meeks campaign says payment was ‘mistakenly’ made to son
- A $3,500 payment from US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign to her son was a mistake, her campaign says—money that should have come from her personal account, not from campaign donors.
- US Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks paid her son $3,500 from her campaign account for “consulting,” according to the most recent quarter’s campaign finance report. Twenty-two days later, her son, Jonathon Miller-Meeks, made a campaign contribution of the same amount to Miller-Meeks’ campaign.
- A spokesman for the campaign called the transfer a mistake. Her son was supposed to receive the payment from Miller-Meeks’ personal account, he said. But she transferred it from the campaign’s account by accident.
- The campaign filed an amended report to address the issue, but problems remain. The amendment process is standard procedure. But the amended report as of Friday evening erased the record of both the payment to and the contribution from Jonathon Miller-Meeks.
- Federal regulation requires campaign reports to keep track of all disbursements made by or on behalf of the campaign. The US House Ethics Committee wrote in a 2024 memo that lawmakers must maintain detailed records when paying family members, including written contracts, logs of work performed, and documentation of fair market value.
- Rather than removing records of mistaken transfers, campaigns regularly keep track of refunds of contributions. The amended report recorded six refunds for the period.
- Using campaign funds for personal use is prohibited under the law. Campaign funds can be used to make salary payments to members of the candidate’s family if the family member provides a service to the campaign and the payment reflects the fair market value of those services.
- Miller-Meeks represents one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country. Her 2024 reelection race was won by 799 votes.
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