Legion Troll
A fine upstanding poster
FAMILY MAN UNDER ATTACK BY THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA
An Indiana Senate candidate who has railed against out-of-control government spending paid his brother-in-law nearly $170,000 to manage the finances of his congressional campaign. The relative had worked as a car salesman and actor but had no experience rounding up political donations.
Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman, a tea party-backed Republican, gave his relative, Gabe Rivera, an average of $5,000 a month from the campaign account for the nearly three years he served as finance director. That was more than the salary paid to Rivera’s successor, who raised about $400,000 more for the campaign in six fewer months.
“I trust him more. I know him,” Stutzman said of Rivera, the husband of his wife’s sister, during an interview. “I’m trying to protect every dollar that comes in from donors. I had no concerns whatsoever about him being my brother-in-law.”
The congressman and his brother-in-law also are business partners. In 2012, while Rivera was still working for the campaign, he and his wife joined the Stutzmans in opening a bridal shop in Fredericksburg, Va. Financial disclosure reports list Stutzman as the shop’s chairman.
Stutzman said Rivera also did some fundraising for a nonprofit group but declined to elaborate.
Rivera joined the campaign before Stutzman first won the 3rd District congressional seat, eventually returning to his work as an actor in a traveling production billed as “a New Testament Stage Epic.”
Stutzman’s defense of the hire came after the Associated Press recently reported that he spent more than $3,000 in donor money on airfare and travel expenses for a California trip his wife described on Facebook as “a family vacation.”
The trip represents just a small part of the more than $300,000 in flights, vehicle charges, meals and hotel stays Stutzman’s campaign fund has spent since he went to Washington on a pledge to oppose special interests. His campaign has yet to answer questions about a large number of mileage reimbursements he collected or his broader spending habits.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/indiana-senate-candidate-paid-relative-170k-for-past-campaign-work/2016/04/30/abd8af96-0ef3-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html