Press Releases

What They’re Saying: ECU Files FEC Complaint Against Tom Barrett

Sep 22, 2022

Yesterday, End Citizens United filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against state Senator and candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 7th congressional district Tom Barrett, for illegally using $40,000 of state campaign money to boost his congressional campaign.

See below for coverage of the complaint and how Tom Barrett must be held accountable and answer for his illegal payments:

  • MLive: Barrett misused $40K of campaign funds, End Citizens United alleges in FEC complaint

    • End Citizens United has filed a campaign finance complaint against state Sen. Tom Barrett, accusing him of violating campaign finance laws in the fledgling days of his congressional campaign.

    • Filed Wednesday, Sept. 21, the complaint accuses Barrett, R-Charlotte, of allegedly violating federal election law when spending a cumulative $40,000 of state campaign funds on his bid for the 7th U.S. House district. That money, the group alleges, was moved from Barrett’s state Senate campaign committee to the political consulting [firm] Roe Strategic in four payments of $10,000 for efforts listed as “redistricting consulting.”

    • End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller characterized the spending as being dishonest and slammed Barrett in a statement sent to MLive. “He dishonestly spent tens of thousands of his state campaign cash on his congressional campaign, then lied about what he used that money for,” she said. “We’re asking the FEC to immediately investigate Barrett and hold him accountable.”

  • Detroit News: Complaint alleges Barrett paid consultant for U.S. House campaign from state account

    • A liberal group has filed a campaign finance complaint against a Republican running for U.S. House in mid-Michigan, alleging that state Sen. Tom Barrett used his state campaign account to pay a consultant for his congressional campaign in violation of federal law.

    • The complaint claims that Barrett’s state committee had never paid Roe Strategic for consulting previously, and that once the congressional campaign was launched, that committee instead began to pay Roe Strategic for consulting going forward.

    • End Citizens United claims that paying Roe Strategic out of the state account violated federal campaign finance law, which prohibits federal candidates transferring funds from a non-federal campaign to their federal campaign committee.

    • Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, said of Barrett in a statement that he “dishonestly spent tens of thousands of his state campaign cash on his congressional campaign, then lied about what he used that money for. We’re asking the FEC to immediately investigate Barrett and hold him accountable.”

  • WLAJ: Barrett Accused of Misusing Funds

    • An organization known as “End Citizens United” is filing a new campaign finance complaint against Republican state Senator Tom Barrett.

    • The complaint alleges that Barrett spent that money to a redistricting consultant in 2021, the year he announced his campaign.

    • Barrett has not responded to requests for comment.

  • WILX: News 10 at 11

    • State Senator and congressional candidate Tom Barrett… allegedly violat[ed] finance campaign laws.

    • The organization End Citizens United… says that Barrett misused $40,000 of campaign funds.

    • The group alleges that the money was taken from Barrett’s Senate campaign committee and moved to a political consulting firm for “redistricting consulting.”

    • However, the organization believes this is misleading because the state has its own independent citizens redistricting commission.

  • Senator Curtis Hertel

    • “How ironic that Tom Barrett continues to tout his law-and-order background, only to have a complaint lodged against him that alleges close to $40,000 of misused funds.”

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