KS-02: GOP Rep. Steve Watkins' woes mount with FEC probe into his father
The Federal Election Commission is investigating potentially improper “straw man donations” to Rep. Steve Watkins’ 2018 campaign that were paid for by his father — the latest political headache for the embattled Kansas Republican.
At the heart of the FEC probe is whether Watkins’ father made illegal contributions to boost Watkin’s congressional bid. Steve Watkins Sr. confirmed in a brief interview with POLITICO that the FEC is investigating him for giving thousands of dollars to his daughters, a home-building contractor and the contractor’s wife, which they then used to max out to Watkins’ campaign. Those types of donations violate campaign finance laws.
The elder Watkins — a Topeka-based endocrinologist who also dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a super PAC to support his son’s election — insisted he didn’t know that what he was doing was illegal. Watkins’ office, meanwhile, said the freshman lawmaker is not under investigation by the FEC.
"I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to do it," Watkins Sr. said during a phone conversation on Thursday. "I thought you could just give money to them and they could do with it what they wanted."
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/06/steve-watkins-fec-probe-122525
= new reply since forum marked as read
