From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

from https://freebeacon.com/democrats/maxine-waters-slapped-with-68000-fec-fine-for-violating-campaign-finance-laws/

Maxine Waters Slapped With $68,000 FEC Fine for Violating Campaign
Finance Laws
Waters has already faced scrutiny for paying her daughter hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds

Maxine Waters (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Andrew Kerr
June 2, 2025
Progressive firebrand Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) is in hot water
with the Federal Election Commission for violating campaign finance laws during her 2020 campaign.

WatersrCOs campaign agreed to pay a $68,000 fine on Friday after the FEC determined the California Democrat knowingly accepted $19,000 in
excessive contributions during her 2020 campaign, the FEC said in a conciliation agreement. Waters also made $7,000 in "prohibited cash disbursements" that election cycle to reimburse "Get Out The Vote"
canvassers in violation of FEC regulations that prohibit campaigns from
making any cash payments over $100. The Waters campaign said it issued
the cash payments because the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for
her canvassers to process checks.

An attorney for the Waters campaign did not dispute wrongdoing in the
matter, saying the financial errors "were not willful or purposeful."

"The errors were primarily a result of limited staff availability and resources during the pandemic," the Waters campaign attorney, Leilani
Beaver, wrote in a letter to the FEC. Beaver added that Waters "refunded
or disgorged" the excess contributions.

The FEC fine is the latest blemish for Waters, who has long faced
scrutiny for her campaignrCOs questionable dealings with her daughter,
Karen Waters. FEC records show the California Democrat has paid her
daughter more than $818,000 through her campaign since 2004, primarily
to produce slate mailers, or endorsement mailers, which contain sample
ballots and quotes of support from Waters to candidates that make
payments to her campaign.

The FEC dismissed a complaint against Waters in 2021 alleging her slate
mailer operation violated campaign finance laws.

The Waters campaign said it retained legal counsel to provide guidance
to its treasurer and implemented new procedures to ensure the financial accuracy of its reports. The campaign also agreed to send its treasurer
to a "Commission-sponsored training program for political committees."

The FEC ruled unanimously in a four-to-zero decision on April 19 to
impose the fine against WatersrCOs campaign, Open Secrets reported.

Waters has re-emerged as an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump
since the start of his second term in January. She urged her followers
to "hit the streets and fight back" against Trump, echoing the sorts of threats she frequently issued during the presidentrCOs first term.

In 2017, Waters told a crowd of supporters to "go and take Trump out
tonight," and, in 2018, the California Democrat urged her followers to
accost Trump administration officials in public.


"If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department
store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd,"
Waters said in 2018. "You push back on them, and you tell them they're
not welcome anymore, anywhere."

Waters did not return a request for comment.

Published under: Congress , Corruption , Democrats , FEC , Maxine Waters


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