McCready’s use of thousands of dollars in gift cards violates federal campaign finance law
Contact: Craig Robinson // Email: [email protected]
URBANDALE, IA – AUGUST 2, 2019 – The Patriots Foundation has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Dan McCready, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. The complaint details how McCready used thousands of dollars in gift cards, hiding campaign spending in violation of federal campaign finance law.
To the extent that these cards were provided to McCready or his own staff, they enable McCready to purchase non-campaign items like food, alcohol, and tobacco. This creates a means to disguise payments and allows McCready to spend campaign dollars for personal expenses and travel.
Further, the campaign does not disclose who was given these gift cards and what campaign expenses they were used for, failing to meet the minimum reporting requirement of the FEC.
Per the Patriots Foundation complaint:
“By utilizing gift cards as a form of payment, Dan McCready was able to make expenditures outside the designated purpose listed on the report. The law requires that candidates and their campaigns are transparent in what disbursements are made; however, gift cards can be used for many purposes, including uses circumventing FEC prohibitions on certain expenditures.
“There is no safeguard to ensure that these gift cards were not used for purchases other than gasoline, like tobacco or alcohol.”
The Patriots Foundation has asked the FEC to conduct an investigation into these serious violations of federal law and stop the McCready campaign from continuing to conceal campaign expenses.
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