What Arizonans Are Reading About Schweikert’s $125,000 Fine For Campaign Finance Violations

Arizonans are reading all about David Schweikert’s flimsy relationship with the law after he was slammed with a $125,000 FEC fine for “repeated campaign finance law violations.”

On Friday, new reports revealed that Schweikert’s campaign committee “agreed to pay a $125,000 federal fine for misusing donor money and associated reporting violations.” This massive, six-figure fine from the FEC followed a separate $50,000 fine by the House Ethics Committee which, “in addition to the financial wrongdoing, also found that Schweikert impeded congressional investigators.”

Here’s what Arizonans are reading about embattled Republican David Schweikert’s ethics and campaign finance violations: 

Cronkite News (Arizona PBS): Schweikert agrees to $125,000 fine from FEC for campaign violations

• “The FEC allegations bring ‘more bad news’ for Schweikert, who faces a ‘very serious primary challenger’ in the GOP-leaning 1st District, said Mike Noble, chief pollster at OH Predictive Insights. It will be a ‘true test for the 10-year incumbent,’ he said.”

• “Calls to Schweikert’s offices in Washington and Phoenix were not immediately returned Friday evening.”

• “But in the conciliation agreement released Friday by the FEC, Schweikert’s campaign admitted to violating campaign finance law by misrepresenting the purpose of campaign payments and the recipients of those payments, some of which were converted to personal use.”

• “Democrats, who blasted Schweikert in 2020 after the ethics probe, were quick to jump on the latest findings by the FEC. ‘David Schweikert has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he can’t be trusted to follow the law, and now he is — or rather, his campaign donors are — paying the price for it,’ said a statement from Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”

• “Jason Rose, a Republican political consultant in Arizona, called the second round of financial violations ‘compelling fodder for opponents in both the primary and the general.’”

• “‘It’s confounding that someone who ran on fiscal responsibility and one time served as a Maricopa County Treasurer would have these types of issues,’ Rose said. ‘So what was once his greatest strength, and that was financial acumen, is now becoming one of his biggest campaign weaknesses.’”

Arizona Republic: Rep. David Schweikert’s campaign agrees to $125,000 fine for reporting violations

• “The FEC’s probe of the matter determined there was ‘reason to believe’ that violations by Schweikert’s campaign committee were ‘knowing and willful.’”

• “The agreement comes as Schweikert could face a difficult path to reelection in a recently redrawn district in the northeastern Valley that is less right-leaning and with candidates from both parties seeking to oust him.”

KJZZ: U.S. Rep. David Schweikert fined $125,000 for misuse of campaign funds

• “Schweikert faced allegations that his campaign misused donations and did not properly report other transactions. The disclosures were filed by the FEC on Friday.”

• “The FEC referenced an earlier report from the Congressional Ethics Committee. It said that the Schweikert Campaign Committee made disbursements from its funds to pay for expenses such as childcare and repaying staff for their payment of Schweikert’s personal expenses including meals, dry cleaning, and flight upgrades for personal travel.”

Daily Beast: GOP Congressman Fined $125,000 For Financial Violations

• “The other shoe has dropped for Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ).”

• “The investigation, which found ‘reason to believe’ that the violations were ‘knowing and willful,’ was the FEC twin of a separate congressional ethics probe that fined the Arizona Republican $50,000 in 2020 for nearly a dozen violations. The inquiries centered around Schweikert’s dealings with his former chief of staff, political consultant Oliver Schwab, specifically payments to Schwab’s personal credit card and firm.”

• “As part of the agreement, the Schweikert campaign admitted to breaking three federal laws—all related to expenses.”

• “The $125,000 FEC fine for the ‘2020 Fiscal Hero’ is more than double the penalty he incurred from the House ethics probe, which, in addition to the financial wrongdoing, also found that Schweikert impeded congressional investigators.”

Business Insider: Arizona GOP Rep. David Schweikert fined $125,000 by Federal Election Commission for repeated campaign finance law violations

• “In July 2020, Schweikert was fined $50,000 by the House Ethics Committee for the same set of violations.”

• “At one point during the investigation, Schwab testified to investigators that Schweikert was ‘very adamant that he did not want a whole bunch of dinners in DC showing up on his FECs,’ directing Schwab to pay for those transactions personally and then charge Schweikert’s campaign account for ‘consulting fees’ to conceal the real purpose.”

• “All of that emerged after a 2017 opinion piece in the Washington Examiner accused Schwab of using taxpayer funds to support a lavish lifestyle, prompting a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics.”

Newsweek: Rep. David Schweikert’s Campaign Committee Fined $125K For Misusing Funds

• “The personal expenses included child care and other reimbursements of staff members who paid for Schweikert’s personal expenses on their own, like dry cleaning meals or flight arrangements for the Representative’s personal travel.”

Salon: GOP lawmaker fined for campaign law violations

• “This $125,000 fine follows Schweikert’s previous $50,000 fine. According to Arizona Central, the lawmaker had a total of 11 ethics violations as a result of a lengthy House Ethics Committee investigation. In the report for that investigation, Schweikert was criticized for making vague and misleading statements to ‘evade the statute of limitations for the most egregious violations of campaign finance laws.’”