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RandySF

(57,644 posts)
Tue Sep 8, 2020, 07:53 PM Sep 2020

OH-10: GOP congressman spent $70k in campaign cash on meals

Dinners at international sushi bars, steakhouses and a wine boutique. A $220 meal in London. A $300 meal in a posh hotel in Belgium on Boxing Day.

Rep. Mike Turner has used campaign funds for hundreds of trips to restaurants — and occasionally to stay at lavish hotels — according to a POLITICO analysis of the Ohio Republican’s campaign-finance filings over the past 3½ years.

He has spent over $70,000 from his campaign account since 2017 to fund meals at some 370 meetings. The individual receipts are fairly modest in most cases — typically ranging from $12 to a few hundred dollars. But together, ethics watchdogs say, they suggest a consistent pattern: Turner uses his donors to subsidize his personal dining costs, expensing an average of two meals a week.Turner, a nine-term member who represents southwestern Ohio, is already facing increased scrutiny as he prepares for what might be his toughest reelection campaign since he was first elected in 2002. House Democrats are targeting his district, which President Donald Trump carried by 7 points in 2016, and he was outraised last quarter by his Democratic opponent, Desiree Tims.

In a statement, Turner denied any impropriety and called the story “a political hit job initiated by my opponent.”

“All of Mike Turner or his team's expenses in the 18 years he has served in Congress have always been legally and publicly disclosed and reported,” campaign manager Mason Di Palma said. “Our campaign organization spending is consistent with supporting our community and raising money for reelection, routinely spending substantially less than other senior members of Congress.”



https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/08/mike-turner-campaign-money-meals-410344

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OH-10: GOP congressman spent $70k in campaign cash on meals (Original Post) RandySF Sep 2020 OP
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