By Kate Irby
Former Rep. David Valadao while running to return to Congress this year paid his campaign manager’s salary with money from two separate political fundraising accounts in a possible violation of federal election law, according to a new complaint based on campaign finance records.
End Citizens United, a left-leaning political action committee that works to “get big money out of politics,” filed a complaint about Valadao’s alleged violation on Monday and shared it with McClatchy.
Valadao, a Republican from Hanford, paid nearly $20,000 to his campaign manager, Andrew Renteria, this election cycle from his leadership political action committee, called Vitoria PAC, according to records with the Federal Election Commission.
Leadership PACs are used by current and former members of Congress to raise money for other candidates seeking federal offices. They are not supposed to give more than $5,000 to any candidate or committee in one election cycle, including to the candidate who is running the committee.
In other words, under federal law, Vitoria PAC can only give $5,000 per election cycle to Valadao’s main campaign committee. The campaign committee is generally responsible for campaign staff payroll.
Valadao lost his House seat in 2018 to Rep. TJ Cox, D-Fresno, in a narrow election. The rematch between the two has become one of the fiercest congressional battles in the country, with outside political groups spending more than $7.5 million on the race.
In the election law complaint, End Citizens United argues that the payment to Renteria represents an “in-kind contribution” to Valadao’s campaign under federal regulations and asked the FEC to investigate.
“FEC regulations do not permit a federal candidate to employ their leadership PAC as a tool to circumvent limits on permissible contributions,” the complaint reads. “As a former, three-term member of Congress who now seeks to reclaim to his old seat, David Valadao should know that his conduct blatantly violates longstanding federal laws and regulations.”
Renteria, when asked for his response to the allegations, characterized it as a “partisan smear campaign by a hypocritical liberal organization.” He said the group is hypocritical because it is supporting Cox, who had multiple liens taken out against him for failing to pay his taxes. Cox’s campaign has provided documentation that shows he eventually paid the money he owed.
Both Cox and Valadao have raised millions for their election chances, with Cox raising about $5.2 million through mid-October and Valadao raising about $3.7 million. Cox has about $530,000 left in cash on hand and Valadao has about $930,000.
Valadao’s campaign committee originally paid Renteria about $6,400 per month for his position as campaign manager, starting at the beginning of 2020, according to FEC reports.
But starting in July, the campaign committee paid Renteria about $1,500 per month, while Valadao’s leadership PAC paid Renteria about $4,900 per month. The sum of the two payments equals the amount Renteria earned from just the campaign committee in the first half of the year.
Renteria received four $4,900 payments from Vitoria PAC, in July, August, September and October, according to FEC reports.
“(This) well exceeds the $5,000 limit for permissible goods and services that a leadership PAC may pay for on a Federal candidate’s behalf,” the complaint by End Citizens United reads. “Additionally, leadership PACs do not run campaigns, so it is unclear what ‘campaign manager services’ could be provided to the leadership PAC here.”
FEC spokesman Christian Hilland declined to comment on specifics, but said that, in general, “support from a leadership PAC that could be paid by a candidate’s authorized committee is a contribution from the leadership PAC to the candidate’s authorized committee.”
Valadao could face fines if the FEC finds he acted wrongfully.