Press Releases

Unelected Sen. Martha McSally Fined $23,000 For Breaking Law

Jul 22, 2019

McSally, a member of the “Big Money 20,” has repeatedly broken campaign finance laws and failed to follow basic disclosure rules

Sen. Martha McSally’s terrible campaign finance record is finally catching up to her.

Last week, the FEC publicly disclosed a settlement in which the Arizona senator was fined $23,000 for breaking campaign finance laws during her 2014 election to Congress. FEC auditors found that McSally took $319,000 in excessive contributions from 117 people and that the 2014 House campaign also didn’t properly disclose $33,000 from political action committees.

“Unelected Martha McSally just can’t stop skirting the law to boost her political ambitions,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “The FEC’s fine against Martha McSally is the result of her troubling and shady pattern of behavior. Her disregard and inability to follow basic disclosure rules is another reason Arizonans can’t count on her to do what’s right.”

Martha McSally has faced scrutiny from the FEC throughout her political career. Last cycle, the FEC received several complaints against McSally due to her fundraising practices, including one filed by ECU. ECU flagged that McSally broke dual candidacy rules by fundraising into two active campaign accounts and transferring nearly $1 million from an active House campaign to an active Senate campaign. The FEC also cited her 2018 campaign for accepting more than the legal maximum amount from over 60 donors. Over the course of her career, McSally did not disclose employer and occupation information for high percentages of her donors–including for over 42% of her contributions in 2016. In her most recent FEC report, Sen. McSally again failed to provide employer and occupation information for donors who gave $182,600.

End Citizens United (ECU) named McSally to its list of “Big Money 20” targets for the 2020 cycle. The Big Money 20 aims to educate voters about incumbents who represent the worst of Washington and rally support for reforming the political system. The members of the Big Money 20 are incumbents who take money from corporate special interests, mega-donors, and industries like Big Pharma and Big Oil and then put those interests ahead of their constituents.

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