Ilhan Omar set to pay husband's firm $1M in 2020, double of last year's campaign payments: 'More like a dowry'
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is reportedly on track to pay her new husband's consulting company nearly double the half a million dollars her campaign paid him last year, according to new figures. Omar, who married her campaign's chief fundraiser Tim Mynett last month, reportedly paid over $290,000 in the first three months of this year to his company, E Street Group.
If the Democrat continues the payments at this rate, it will mean the company is on track to get nearly $1.16 million from Omar's campaign in 2020. Her husband's firm received a total of $523,000 for the whole of last year.
Omar married Mynett months after her divorce from Ahmed Hirsi - father of her three children. The pair reportedly divorced over Omar's alleged extramarital affair with the DC-based political consultant, who was also married at the time.
"Omar's campaign chest is looking more and more like a dowry," Peter Flaherty, whose group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over Omar's spending told Daily Mail. "Most candidates for federal office keep a close eye on their vendors to make sure they aren't being overcharged, but with her being married to her chief fundraiser the incentive maybe the other way round as the money spent is going directly to the family."
Flaherty, chairman of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, told the outlet: "Basically, her campaign finance disclosures read more like a wedding registry where friends can make gifts to the happy couple."
The latest figures for Omar' campaign spending were released by the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, April 15, showing that her campaign committee called 'Ilhan For Congress' had paid E Street a total of $291,059.91 between January 1 and March 31. The amount includes regular monthly payments of $67,000, classified as $50,000 for "digital advertising," $12,000 for "fundraising consulting" and $5,000 for "digital consulting."
The Minnesota Congresswoman, 37, had reportedly been paying just for "fundraising consultancy" and "digital consultancy" through much of her time in Congress, however, she began paying $50,000 for "digital advertising" on a monthly basis since December 2019, shortly after the pair got divorced from their spouses.
The remaining $102,000 has been classified for expenses like travel, campaign merchandise, and postage.
When the outlet approached Omar's spokesperson for details regarding the figures, he directed the media to a series of tweets made by Omar last month over her marriage to Mynett and associated campaign work. Omar, in one of her tweets, wrote: "We consulted with a top FEC campaign attorney to ensure there were no possible legal issues with our relationship. We were told this is not uncommon and that no, there weren't."
The figures state that after the couple got married on March 11 in Washington DC, the Democrat paid more than $120,000 in the first three weeks of their married life. On the day of the marriage, she spent $498.80 for travel expenses and the $50,000 monthly payment fell due a day later. In the following days, she paid more than $5,000 for research services and $1,046.83 for travel expenses. There were two separate payments made on March 30, totaling $63,834.18 for "mail, advertising, production and postage."
Omar, according to the figures released by the FEC, has raised nearly $3 million since the start of 2019, putting her among the top one percent of the candidates running for election in November.
"It shows just how she has become a national figure," Flaherty told the outlet. "It is very impressive for a freshman congresswoman to raise that amount. But it raises the question: with all that money going to her husband's company, is it being used for other purposes? The ethical problem is that if a significant portion of her campaign funds are staying within the family it could become a way for special interests to buy influence with her."