ELECTION COMMISSION DEMANDS MAYRA PAY BACK CASH

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Suddenly, it appears that the Mayra Vallejo-Flores (or whatever name she is going by nowadays) election contribution gravy train may be coming to an end. 

And even before she is the Republican Party nominee to be their candidate for congress against incumbent Vicente Gonzalez, she is running afoul of the law by pocketing a personal salary before the filing deadline. She faces Dr. Laura Cisneros, Gregory Kunkle and Mauro Garza in the republican primary.

In a strongly worded letter to the republican candidate for U.S. Congressional District 34, the Federal Election Commission is demanding that she account for monies she is paying herself as a salary from campaign contributions before the filing deadline for the office.

The letter, dated January 7, gives her until February 12 to answer questions regarding her use of the funds for personal purposes, that is a $5,000 a month salary she paid herself.

 The letter states that "This notice requests information essential to full public disclosure of your federal election campaign finances. Failure to adequately respond by the response date noted above could result in an audit or enforcement action."

In the finding, the FEC states that "Line 11(a)(ii) of the Detailed Summary Page discloses $565,735.83 in unitemized receipts from individuals/persons other than political committees during the reporting period. When contributions from an individual reach $200 for an election cycle, each subsequent contribution from that individual must be itemized, regardless of the amount.

"The itemization should include the full name, mailing address and zip code of the person, along with the name of his/her employer, the date of the contribution, his/her occupation, the election designation and the election cycle-to-date amount of contributions made by the person. 

"Please amend your report to provide a Schedule A if necessary, or to clarify that for contributions received in the 2023-2024 cycle, the aggregate total for the election cycle for each contributor does not exceed $200. 

"Schedule B of your report discloses a salary payment to the candidate that appears to constitute personal use of campaign funds by the candidate (pertinent portion attached). A principal campaign committee may not pay a salary to a candidate prior to the filing deadline for access to the primary election ballot for the federal office that the candidate seeks. In this instance, the filing deadline for access to the primary election ballot in Texas was on 12/11/2023. Salary payments made before this date constitutes a personal use of campaign funds. (11 CFR § 113.1(g)(1)(i)(I))

"The committee must seek reimbursement for the full amount of the personal use violation(s) from the candidate and notify the Commission of such a reimbursement. The reimbursement(s) must be reported on Schedule A supporting Line 15 of the Detailed Summary Page of the report covering the period in which the reimbursement is received.

"Please amend your report to clarify what action you will take concerning the apparent personal use of campaign funds. If the disbursement(s) in question was incompletely or incorrectly reported, you must amend your original report with the clarifying information. If the disbursements do constitute the personal use of campaign funds, the Commission may take further legal action. However, prompt action to obtain reimbursement of the funds in question will be taken into consideration.

"Please note, you will not receive an additional notice from the Commission on this matter. Adequate responses must be received by the Commission on or before the due date noted above to be taken into consideration in determining whether audit action will be initiated. Failure to comply with the provisions of the Act may also result in an enforcement action against the committee. Any response submitted by your committee will be placed on the public record and will be considered by the Commission prior to taking enforcement action. Requests for extensions of time in which to respond will not be considered..."

If she can't even commit grifting right, what can we expect from her in congress?