What Corruption?

On Thursday, The Conservative Review reported that according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, Democrat South Carolina Representative James Clyburn has distributed more than $200,000 in campaign funds to entities controlled by his relatives.

The article reports:

Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, has made 15 rental payments to a company controlled by a daughter and son-in-law, and 39 direct payments to another daughter and son-in-law. Clyburn’s grandson also appears to be a salaried employee, and has received twice-monthly payments from the Clyburn campaign since October 2021.

The article concludes:

Overall, Friends of Jim Clyburn has paid Clyburn’s family members and entities they control $236,412 since 2010.

Clyburn’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the matter.

Clyburn is one of several members of Congress who have funneled money to relatives through campaign accounts in recent years. Democratic Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes paid her adult children more than $35,000 out of campaign funds since entering Congress in 2021. Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters paid her daughter more than $100,000 during the 2018 election cycle.

Republican Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher paid family members $69,000 during the 2020 election cycle.

Actually, this doesn’t bother me as much as some of the other corruption in Washington does. It shouldn’t be a problem for a candidate to do business with or hire family members. However, those business and family members should be paid according to the going rate for the services they provide. For instance, a family member who is not a ‘volunteer’ stuffing envelopes (do they still do that?) in an office should be paid what people stuffing envelopes are usually paid. For that person to receive a $100,000 a year salary is a problem. The bigger picture is that what we are seeing is how someone middle class can come to Washington to ‘serve’ and leave a few years later as a millionaire with millionaire family members. That is the problem.