strapped for cash

It sure looks like Madison Cawthorn broke campaign finance laws and now he’s screwed

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This just in: Come January, Madison Cawthorn will no longer have his congressional salary and could be quite literally jobless, penniless, and facing the prospect of criminal charges.

Related: Madison Cawthorn lands starring role in his very own ethics investigation

According to The Daily Beast, the outgoing, one-term congressman maybe probably violated campaign laws with his “outrageous” spending of campaign funds meant to be used during his now-defunct general election campaign, including blowing thousands of dollars on dining at the vehemently anti-LGBTQ fastfood chain Chick-fil-a and at least three shopping sprees at a high-end cigar shop.

 

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An anonymous campaign source says the anti-LGBTQ GOP Representative’s campaign was so strapped for cash during the end of his failed primary that it was forced to dip into general fund money.

Related: Madison Cawthorn, thoroughly humiliated, just flipped on Donald Trump in the most pathetic way

Unfortunately, election laws forbid those funds from being spent until the general election. If a candidate loses their primary, as Cawthorn did, the money must be returned to donors. But since the money isn’t there anymore, there’s nothing to return.

Per The Daily Beast:

The campaign’s financial washout is more than another embarrassment; it’s against the law.

“Nobody ever did the math, which baffled me because the spending was so outrageous,” the campaign source told The Daily Beast.

This person pointed to a spree of frivolous charges over the last year that all accelerated into 2022, such as $1,500 in “egregiously” frequent trips to Chick-Fil-A, almost $3,000 at a place called Papa’s Beer, three separate charges at a high-end cigar shop, $21,000 for lodging in Florida and—the biggest drain—hundreds of thousands of dollars in sky-high consulting and fundraising fees, including for Cawthorn’s friend and campaign manager, Blake Harp, who was drawing a salary beyond federal limits.

Cawthorn, who recently voted against codifying same-sex marriage into federal law, lost his primary against GOP candidate Chuck Edwards on May 17, shortly after video leaked online showing him butt naked and humping his male cousin’s face in a hotel room.

According to available data, Cawthorn owes donors over $220,000. Among those he must now pay back are several of his close friends and neighbors, GOP colleagues, nearly three dozen retirees, a former Army major, and billionaire GOP megadonors Bernie Marcus, Steve Wynn, John Childs, and H. Ross Perot Jr.

Related: Madison Cawthorn’s ex-staffer just spilled a whole pot of tea: “I have a LOT of good stories”

But with his campaign -$325,000 in debt, it’s unclear how he’s going to do that.

Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, tells The Daily Beast that Cawthorn will probably face heavy consequences for his alleged mishandling of campaign funds.

“There are few more ironclad rules in campaign finance than you can’t spend general election funds in a primary,” Libowitz explains. “There are strict limits on how much may be given and spent in each. If Cawthorn spent funds raised for the general during the primary and made no attempt to refund the general donations, he’ll likely be in a lot of trouble with the FEC.”

Now, some tweets…

https://twitter.com/TeachAllAmerica/status/1551598058223218690

Related: Matt Gaetz mocks women for being ugly, gets reminded he has huge forehead and (allegedly) pays for sex

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