Representatives paid relatives for campaign work

20 Jun 2007 // Reps. Gary Miller, Grace Napolitano and Joe Baca have paid family members - and in Miller's case, his own company - tens of thousands of dollars with campaign funds for work on their campaigns, according to a study by a political watchdog group.
The report, released Monday by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, profiled key committee members and top party leaders in the House of Representatives.

Of the 337 members examined, a total of 96 representatives paid $5.8 million to family members or companies owned by family members or their employers in the past three election cycles.

Federal campaign laws allow candidates to pay family members for "bona fide, campaign-

related services" as long as the payments have a fair-market value.

But making sure family members are qualified for the work, and determining the nature of that work, make it difficult to make sure candidates are not funneling campaign funds through their family members for personal use, said Melanie Sloan, CREW executive director.

Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, paid her daughter Yolanda Dyer and her consulting firm $52,694 in salary and reimbursements between the 2002 and 2006 elections, according to the report.

Chairwoman of the Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Water and Power, Napolitano said that her daughter ran all of her campaigns and was in fact underpaid for her services.

"She was not only my campaign manager but my treasurer," said Napolitano. "She paid all my bills, called donors to get all the information needed to report their contributions, and paid for a lot of materials for fundraising events."

Miller, ranking member of the Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations, paid sons Brian and Loren about $5,300 between 2002 and 2004, according to the report.

Miller's spokesman Scott Toussaint said the campaign payments were for minor campaign work including assembling signs, photography and office work.

The CREW report noted that between 2002 and 2006, Miller paid nearly $125,000 to rent office space, office equipment and for fundraising expenses to his own company, G. Miller Development.

In 2002, his campaign also donated $95,372 to the "Miller for Assembly" campaign, to pay off debt from the congressman's previous run for Assembly, a move allowed by federal law, Toussaint said.

As for the payments to Miller's company, Toussaint said the congressman worked "hand in glove" with the Federal Election Commission to make sure that no campaign laws were broken.

Baca, D-San Bernardino, distributed $57,430 in campaign funds through his campaign committee to four family members during the time period examined, according to the group.

Baca paid his wife, Barbara Baca, $400 for planning fundraising events.

Baca's daughter, Natalie Baca-Ramos, was paid $27,000 (plus $2,630 for expenses) for fundraising consulting.

From 2004 to 2006, Baca gave his son, Joe Baca Jr., a total of $19,980 for Baca Jr.'s state Assembly and state Senate campaigns.

Another of Baca's sons, Jeremy Baca, received $6,600 during his 2006 State Assembly run.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, distributes funds to family members more discreetly than Baca, the watchdog group found.

Lewis' wife, Arlene Willis, serves as his chief of staff and is paid $110,000 per year. House rules prohibit a member from hiring his or her spouse, but the rule does not apply to Lewis' wife because she worked for him before they were married.

Lewis' stepdaughter, Julia

Willis-Leon, received $4,000 from Lewis' campaign committee for fundraising during the 2004 election cycle.

Willis-Leon was also paid $46,270 in 2005-2006 as the director of a political action committee that receives money from lobbyists and contractors that do business with the House Appropriations committee, of which Lewis is a ranking member.

Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, does not distribute money to family associates, the group found.

The watchdog group did not examine the finances of Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, because he is not a ranking member of a House committee or subcommittee.