Watchdog group accuses House Republicans of violating campaign finance law

The left-leaning advocacy group End Citizens United says three freshman House Republicans have violated federal campaign finance law, the Washington Examiner reported.

Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota, and Marc Molinaro, all from New York, are being accused of having unlawfully transferred $4,000 combined between their state and federal committees.

"The law is intended to prevent corruption and undue influence over our leaders," Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, said in a statement. "These aren’t one-off mistakes; they appear to be calculated moves."

The Examiner's report stated that in March 2022, LaLota's federal committee received $1,000 from the Suffolk County Republican Committee, earmarked "from [a] verified source." D’Esposito's federal committee raised $1,000 in March 2022 from Citizens for D’Esposito, and Molinaro's federal committee received $2,000 in total from his state committee in 2021 and 2022, according to End Citizens United.

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The FEC stipulates that a candidate's nonfederal committee is "prohibited" from transferring "funds or assets" to his or her federal election committee. The agency also says direct contributions constitute a "transfer" — regulations that End Citizens United say the lawmakers violated.

It its complaint, End Citizens United says D’Esposito's state campaign illegally used funds on print and advertising, rent, cellphones, volunteer expenses, and mail services in Washington, D.C.

"Additionally, the state committee spent over $97,000 in connection with a golf fundraiser reported to have a speaker advocating for Mr. D’Esposito's election to U.S. Congress," the complaint read. "Despite spending thousands of dollars on these expenses from his state committee, Mr. D’Esposito was neither campaigning for, nor was he seeking ballot access for, any New York state or local office in the 2022 election cycle."

"Thus, there is no logical reason that his state committee needed to make payments for a campaign office, print and online advertising, cell phones, printing, fundraising, or volunteer services. Rather it seems more likely that Mr. D’Esposito made these payments in connection with his federal campaign — his only active campaign at the time," the complaint read.