The campaign expenditures that are charged in the indictment against Duncan Hunter took place between 2009 and 2016. But right now Congressman Hunter's campaign fund is also being squeezed. The incumbent Republican is spending more campaign money than he's taking in. He's also raising less than his Democratic challenger. Political experts say both of those situations are quite unusual. Joining me is reporter Jill Castellano from PBS news partner news source. She's been tracking the money in the 15th District congressional race and Jill welcome to the program. Thank you. Congressional incumbents usually out fundraise their challengers. What's been happening though in the 50 fiftieth regarding Duncan Hunter and his challenger Mark camp in a jar. Right. That's not happening in this case his Democratic challenger is outraising him. Actually Mark Kampen a jar has raised about a million dollars and Duncan Hunter is only raised about eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's pretty unusual because incumbents have such an advantage going into the race that usually people back them right away expecting they're going to win. So this is not a good sign for Duncan Hunter so far even considering that Hunter has been spending more. Yes he has been spending more. About half of his money has been spent just on legal fees. About six hundred thousand dollars and he spent another three hundred thousand dollars just on consulting. And we also know that his campaign has been refunding things like airline tickets and hotel reservations those kinds of purchases that are actually wrapped up in this indictment. The indictment states that the hunters have spent more than fifteen thousand dollars in campaign funds on personal airline tickets and hotel rooms for family and friends. So that might be why we're seeing some of these refunds. So he's spending more money but not in the ways that you would expect. Not really to help his re-election campaign Jessica Levinson who is a campaign finance expert and professor at Loyola Law School talks about how this is not good for Hunter right now. Typically incumbents have pretty good fundraising prowess particularly when incumbents like Representative Hunter are in safe districts where the registration numbers favor them. And so typically you are not you don't have a campaign deficit at this point in the laksa. Is it legal to spend campaign funds on legal fees. Sure and all candidates do this. They have attorneys that help them for a variety of reasons but this proportion of funds that half of the money that he's spent he spent one point two million dollars about half of that money going to legal services means he's in legal trouble which we know is true. There are some similarities between this overdrawn campaign fund and the kinds of overdrafts outlined in the indictment against the hunters. Tell us about that. The indictment outlines how the hunters have a joint bank account the couple and they've been overdrawing their bank account actually more than 1000 times in the last seven seven years resulting in thirty seven thousand dollars in fees. They are in a lot of debt. They are spending more money than they can afford to. They've also maxed out their credit cards according to the indictment with five figure balances. Twenty four thousand dollars in interest in fees Hunter's personal bank account reported less than a thousand dollars in assets over that time. And so what the indictment describes is this conspiracy they call it a conspiracy to take money out of the Hunter campaign bank account and use it for personal expenses. And we're seeing this parallel taking place in the reelection campaign bank account for Duncan Hunter where now they're draining their resources and spending a lot more money than they're taking in. And yet no one is alleging that this use of the campaign fund even though it's overdrawn is illegal. Right. It's more like he's being squeezed for cash it's not illegal. Is this assessment that you've done of Hunter's campaign fund up to date. When did you track it last. This is as up to date as it can be. So the people running for federal office file for the most part their campaign finance reports at unique intervals particular periods of time when we get an update on how they're doing. And the most recent update we got was through June 30th. So it's a little bit outdated but it's the best numbers we have right now. And a couple of months down the line we're going to see how the indictment has affected the fundraising for both candidates. Whereas Duncan Hunter's campaign money coming from the largest group donating to Hunter is actually hunter himself the hunter victory fund is a joint fund raising committee. It's transferred more than forty thousand dollars into Duncan Hunter's re-election campaign. He's got another PAC another committee that's been donating money to his campaign as well. And then he's also getting money from a variety of PACs these political action committees that give money to all sorts of candidates especially those who are incumbents this is pretty common. We're seeing big donations from the aerospace company General Dynamics the American Maritime Officers PAC the American Waterways Operators PAC all of these different groups that for one reason or another want to support his re-election as you said Democrat Amar company jar is raising more money than Hunter at this point. Where is that money coming from. He has the support of a lot of small donors through an organization called ActBlue which helps fund raise grassroots candidates who are democratic. And he's gotten about six hundred thousand dollars in individual donations from people around the country through this platform. But he also has PACs he has money supporting him from a number of PACs that are looking to get a Democrat in this seats. We're we're talking about the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC the Powerpack plus the Democratic midterm victory fund. These kinds of groups that really want to see Hunter out of this seat. When does campaign spending typically start to ramp up. Usually it starts around Labor Day is when we'll see a switch. That's when people start to think a little bit more about who they're going to vote for on Election Day. The big moment though is going to be shortly after Halloween those last few weeks before the election even the last week before the election. That's what people are really thinking about. Who are they going to go out and vote for. And so we're going to see a wide variety of advertisements get ready to be bombarded. I've been speaking with a inews source reporter Jill Castellano. Jill thank you. Thank you.
Indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has a history of spending more money than he can afford, according to federal charges unsealed this week in San Diego. Hunter’s re-election campaign follows a similar pattern — it’s spending more money than it’s bringing in.
The indictment accuses the five-term Republican congressman and his wife of using more than $250,000 in Hunter’s campaign funds on personal expenses, such as family vacations, school tuition, fast food and video games.
The 47-page indictment describes the Alpine couple’s personal financial struggles and their use of campaign funds to pay off debts. It states that the Hunters’ joint bank account was overdrawn more than 1,100 times in a seven-year period, resulting in more than $37,000 in fees. They frequently maxed out their credit cards with five-figure balances, resulting in more than $24,000 in interest and fees.
Hunter’s personal bank account reported less than $1,000 in assets from 2009 to 2016, according to the indictment.
Hunter, who is running for re-election in November, has also been spending more than expected out of the bank account of his re-election campaign, according to financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. His campaign has spent $1.2 million since the start of last year, while only raising $854,000.
Jessica Levinson, campaign finance expert and professor at Loyola Law School, said it’s unusual for a sitting congressman to spend more money on his campaign than he’s raising.
“Typically incumbents have pretty good fundraising prowess, particularly incumbents like Representative Hunter who are in safe districts where the registration numbers favor them,” Levinson said. “And so typically you don't have a campaign deficit at this point in the election.”
About half of the money Hunter’s campaign has spent — more than $614,000 — went to legal services. He spent another $310,000 on consulting.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in April 2016 that the FEC began investigating Hunter over the use of his campaign funds to pay for video games on 68 occasions. Two months later, according to the indictment, the FBI started investigating Hunter and his wife, Margaret.
They face five charges, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, prohibited use of campaign contributions, wire fraud, falsifying records, and aiding and abetting.
“The goal of the conspiracy was for Duncan Hunter and Margaret Hunter to enrich themselves and others at their direction,” the indictment reads, “by converting Campaign funds for their own personal benefit and enjoyment, and for the personal benefit of others with whom the Hunters has personal relationships.”
The congressman’s campaign has refunded about $7,000 worth of airline tickets and hotel reservations since the start of 2017. The indictment states that the Hunters have spent more than $15,000 in campaign funds on personal airline tickets and hotel rooms for their family and friends.
California’s 50th Congressional District is one of the most Republican-leaning in the state. Of registered voters, 42 percent are Republicans and 27 percent Democrats. The region covers most of eastern San Diego County and part of Riverside County, including Temecula.
Even with the ongoing FBI investigation, Hunter finished first in the primary with 47 percent of the vote. Second-place finisher Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat, captured 17.6 percent of the vote in the seven-candidate contest.
After the indictment was unsealed on Tuesday, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report changed the race from a “solid Republican” victory to “lean Republican.”
“He's still the odds-on favorite, but it's opened up a significant opportunity for Ammar Campa-Najjar, who now has the attention of the national media,” said UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. “This is also his chance to get donors excited, because he needs the money to get his story out.”
Hunter has two other political bank accounts that are helping raise money for his re-election campaign. The Hunter Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, has transferred more than $40,000 into the re-election campaign bank account since January 2017.
The joint committee is also using up its resources. When Hunter was running for Congress in 2016, the account had a surplus of $26,000. But as of June 30 this year, it reported having nothing in the bank.
Hunter’s Leadership PAC, called Peace Through Strength, has brought in almost $44,000 this election cycle and spent about $26,000. The committee has transferred $10,000 into Hunter’s re-election campaign bank account.
“For the majority of voters, sometime around Halloween is when they're really going to start paying attention to political ads,” Levinson said, “and so you do not want to be draining your bank accounts in August before Labor Day.”
Hunter, the second member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for president, denied the allegations against him in an interview with 10News on Tuesday.
"This is the Democrats' arm of law enforcement,” Hunter said. “That's what's happening right now. It's happening with Trump. It's happening with me. We're going to fight through it and win, and the people get to vote in November.”
Hunter and his wife are scheduled to make their initial appearance in federal court on Thursday morning.
