Beto O’Rourke is one of the top contenders for the Democrat presidential primary.
Some pundits think he could even beat Donald Trump.
But that could go out the window after he was accused of doing something illegal with his campaign money.
Six prime ministers, nine lives: Downing Street’s ‘chief mouser’ Larry the cat outlasts another leader
A timeline of Trump’s $14 million Reflecting Pool makeover
Judge rejects accused WHCA dinner shooter’s bid to disqualify Blanche and Pirro
Former Gambino associate turned New Jersey councilman accused of running loansharking ring while in office
Supreme Court reinstates conviction in 1979 Etan Patz murder
Judge Releases Surveillance Footage of Karmelo Anthony’s Murder of Austin Metcalf
NYPD Officer Jumps on Top of Vehicle and Shoots Suspect Who Hit Multiple Officers
Chicago resident living in shadows of Obama Presidential Center reveal chaos caused by years-long construction
Alan Greenspan dies at age 100
Attacks Against Christians Rise in Major European Country
District court judges weighing Trump policies face repeated slap downs by appeals courts
Pence says Iran agreement ‘smacks of the kind of appeasement’ Trump rejected in prior term
Supreme Court Allows Gun Ruling Favoring Letitia James to Stand
Obama Center isn’t a traditional presidential library. Critics say it’s an activism center.
New York races to watch: Which battles could shape the Democratic Party’s future?
Reporters are pouring through Beto O’Rourke’s first quarter fundraising report.
And The Daily Caller noticed something strange.
O’Rourke’s campaign paid over $100,000 to a web development company that was owned by his wife.
The Daily Caller reports:
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke paid roughly $110,000 in campaign funds to a web development company while either he or his wife owned it, public records show.
Beto for Texas paid Stanton Street Technology Group $58,544 during the 2011-12 election cycle, $39,060 during the 2013-14 cycle, $9,290 in the 2015-16 cycle and $32,778 during the 2017-18 cycle, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Either O’Rourke or his wife owned Stanton Street — a small web development firm that O’Rourke founded in 1998 — during the vast majority of those payments. Such payments are legal, so long as the campaign is charged for the actual cost of the services, but ethics watchdogs have criticized the practice as a form of self-dealing.
O’Rourke’s wife, Amy Sanders O’Rourke, took over Stanton Street as the Texas Democrat entered Congress in January 2013. She controlled it until early 2017.
It’s not illegal to hire vendors connected to your family.
What is illegal is paying above or below market value for those services.
Now reporters and campaign finance sleuths will dig into O’Rourke’s report and this contract with Stanton Street to see if he broke the law.
