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“FRAUD,” “F.E.C. VIOLATION,” and “SCAM CHARITY” were printed on the outside of envelopes distributed by the Utah Democratic Party at a town hall in Eagle Mountain Tuesday night for Rep. Burgess Owens, R-UT.
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The party is criticizing Owens for accepting a $2,000 campaign donation from Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, who’s currently under investigation for sex trafficking. Democrats also wanted to draw attention to a nearly $4,000 fine that the Federal Election Commission imposed on Owens for failing to report last-minute contributions to his 2020 campaign.
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Lastly, they criticized Owens for writing in a financial disclosure form that he would not accept any more money from the non-profit he started — Second Chance 4 Youth — — and then reporting that he’s still getting money from the organization for consulting.
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According to forms filed in January 2020, Owens made $70,000 from SC4Y in 2019 as its CEO. He said then “all official affiliation/compensation will cease once elected Nov. 2020.”
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Financial documents filed in August of this year show he made $19,250 in 2020 from his non-profit for consulting. Though, forms do not show the dates for those payments. In an email Friday, his campaign said he “has not earned any income from SC4Y since taking office” in January 2021.
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“Are you still receiving payments from Second Chance for Youth and how do you justify lying either to the House of Representatives or your constituents,” Utah Democratic Party Communications Director Joshua Rush asked Owens during the town hall.
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Owens said he’s still consulting with SC4Y “because it’s my dream,” and listed off projects the organization is working on, including a food truck. However, an investigation by the Salt Lake Tribune in September 2020 found $0 it raised went to incarcerated youth.
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While Owens’ district director initially praised the party for voicing their opinions before the town hall started, Owens’ himself had a harsher response to Rush’s question during the event.
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“This is where the problem lies. It’s called disrespect,” Owens said. “And I’ll tell you what’s interesting. You can see why people don’t really care about the truth, this is what happens?”
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Owens declined to comment on the other items the Democrats brought up.
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Rush said they brought these letters because they don’t think Owens is “qualified to represent us.”
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“The hope is that folks will use these letters to ask informed questions about the congressman and who he’s really looking to represent,” he said.
Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Rep. Burgess Owens criticized for inaccurately reporting who paid him and for what
By Matt Canham | October 1, 2021
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Rep. Burgess Owens’ congressionally required report disclosing his personal finances had problems.
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The freshman Utah Republican reported amounts in the “current year” column, implying he made money from speaking engagements as a sitting congressman, which would be a violation of House rules. The filing also made it seem as if he was still on the payroll of Second Chance 4 Youth, a charity he previously led.
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The report, filed in August, also misreported how much money he made from the charity the previous year and didn’t explain his role in that organization or any other, as required.
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Utah Democrats argue this isn’t just a series of simple mistakes; rather, they say, it fits a pattern. Owens had problems with these same personal financial forms as a candidate and also had to file an amendment then. And he got fined nearly $4,000 by the Federal Election Commission for failing to appropriately disclose campaign contributions in the last days of his successful 2020 race.
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“It’s deeply concerning that Rep. Owens would minimize yet another financial failure,” said Joshua Rush, spokesman for the Utah Democratic Party. “If Burgess Owens can’t keep his own house in order, how can Utahns trust him to represent them soundly?”
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Rush confronted Owens at a late August town hall, relying on information from the initial inaccurate financial disclosure.
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“Are you still receiving payments from Second Chance 4 Youth?” Rush asked the lawmaker. “And how do you justify lying either to the clerk of the House of Representatives or your constituents?”
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Owens responded that Rush’s questions were disrespectful. He also said, “No, I’m not receiving any more money. Yes, I’m still consulting with them because it is my dream.”
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A September 2020 story from The Utah Investigative Journalism Project, published by The Tribune, found that the charity had failed to properly register and that none of its money went to helping incarcerated youths.
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The bottom line: At the request of The Tribune, Bryson Morgan, a former House Ethics Committee lawyer who is now in private practice, reviewed Owens’ original report. “There’s some real sloppiness here,” said Morgan, who is from Utah.
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He pointed out errors in Owens’ first report, including that the congressman listed income for the “current year” and that he didn’t disclose what position he held for companies, even though in another section he said he was a consultant.
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“At best,” Morgan said, “this is a very cavalier attitude toward the ethics requirements.”
Teen Vogue: Burgess Owens Told Me to Respect My Elders During a Town Hall
By Joshua Rush | September 20, 2021
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Looking down from the podium, my congressman told me I had disrespected him by seeking answers from him.
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At a recent town hall in the Utah suburb of Eagle Mountain, I sat in the front row, patiently waiting for Rep. Burgess Owens to answer my questions about what I found to be the unethical reporting of his finances to the public he had sworn an oath to serve.
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When he called on me, I asked a simple question: Is he still involved with Second Chance 4 Youth (SC4Y), a charity he founded to help support formerly incarcerated youth? According to a 2020 Salt Lake Tribune investigation, none of the charity’s donations were used directly for that purpose in 2019.
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The details about SC4Y sounded like B.S. to me, but it was Owens’s response to my question that really caught me off guard. The congressman claimed he does not receive money from the organization but still consults with it. Then he chose to take aim at something else: youth voices.
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“It’s called disrespect,” Owens told me. “You respect your elders.”
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Well, I think our members of Congress should learn to respect their constituents because when people in power engage in unethical actions, it’s our job to speak up.
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The fact that my congressman looked uncomfortable when I asked him a question didn’t just tell me he was nervous about what I was asking, it told me I was speaking truth to power.
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Congressman: What is disrespectful about seeking transparency? What is disrespectful about holding our leaders accountable? Or embracing our right as constituents to question our elected officials?
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Rather than answering my question and moving forward with transparency, the congressman hid behind remarks about my age. (Teen Vogue reached out to Owens’s office for comment).
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To my congressman, all I have to say is good luck with that. The youth of your district will keep showing up. We’ll keep demanding transparency and ethical representation from you. And if you try to dismiss us, we’ll take our fight to the ballot box next November.
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