New scandal rocks MAGA's most vulnerable congressman: report

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was facing scrutiny on Wednesday after a new Politico report revealed he was receiving overlapping payments, raising questions about his past as a political operative.

Lawler's advocacy and political groups paid more than $720,000 to Checkmate Strategies, the consulting firm he co-founded and sold last year for up to $50,000. While ethics experts say the arrangement is legal, it has fueled speculation about potential conflicts of interest as the Republican lawmaker pursues reelection in a highly competitive district.

"POLITICO has previously reported that Lawler’s campaigns paid his former firm $500,000 for campaign services," according to the outlet. "A new analysis of other campaign finance and lobbying records shows that in addition to those payments, before entering Congress, Lawler directed a host of organizations that paid a combined total of at least $221,515 to Checkmate for its services between 2019 and 2021."

Lawler previously worked as a lobbyist, political consultant and an executive director of the New York State Republican Party.

"But the lines between the three roles often blurred together — a reality that now poses a political liability as Democrats eye his suburban congressional seat as a prime pickup opportunity this year," Politico reported.

A review of public records has revealed that when he was serving as the director of the natural gas advocacy group New Yorkers for Affordable Energy, the organization paid Checkmate Strategies $97,000 to lobby for it in 2019 and 2020. At the time, Lawler was listed as the group's lobbyist. As leader of the economic development group 17 Forward 86, that organization ended up paying Checkmate $95,000 for lobbying. Checkmate was paid more than $26,000 for campaign mailers and consulting services from 2019 and 2021, while Lawler was chair of the Orangetown Republican Committee.

Government watchdog groups called the payments from organizations Lawler directed to his former political firm "improper" and urged that such arrangements forbidden.

"These kinds of self-dealing transactions should be banned," Rachael Fauss, a senior policy advisor with the group Reinvent Albany, told Politico. "No nonprofit board or political committee should allow their leadership to enter into contracts with another entity they have a financial stake in. Unfortunately, attempts to rein this in have failed for decades."