Left-wing California Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine following a Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigation that uncovered multiple violations of election laws.
According to a set of documents released Friday, the FEC found that Waters’ 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, breached several campaign finance regulations.The federal agency accused Citizens for Waters of “failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements in calendar year 2020,” “knowingly accepting excessive contributions” and “making prohibited cash disbursements,” according to one document that appears to be a legally binding agreement that allows both parties to avoid going to court.
Waters’ committee agreed to pay the civil fine as well as “send its treasurer to a Commission-sponsored training program for political committees within one year of the effective date of this Agreement.” The document added: “Respondent shall submit evidence of the required registration and attendance at such event to the Commission.”
The investigation found that Citizens for Waters accepted excessive campaign contributions from seven individuals totaling $19,000 during the 2019–2020 election cycle, surpassing the legal individual donation limit of $2,800. While the committee eventually refunded the excess contributions, the FEC noted the action was taken in an “untimely” manner, Fox News reported.
Waters’ campaign committee also “made four prohibited cash disbursements that were each in excess of $100, totaling $7,000,” the FEC said. Waters’ campaign committee “contends that it retained legal counsel to provide advice and guidance to the treasurer and implemented procedures to ensure the disbursements comply with the requirements of the Act.”
Leilani Beaver, who was listed as Citizens for Waters’ attorney, sent the FEC a letter last year that maintained the campaign finance violations were “errors” that “were not willful or purposeful.” Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, has served in Congress since 1991, Fox noted.