FEC To Force Members Of Congress To Return Contributions To Blunt/DeLay Favor Seeker

According to PoliticalMoneyLine, the FEC will require the campaigns of several members of Congress to disgorge themselves of tainted contributions they took from Westar executives.

According to PoliticalMoneyLine:

Eighteen federal candidates or their PACs, and one party committee must disgorge themselves of $40,700 in campaign contributions given to them by Westar executives. Since Westar Energy Inc. sent each of the recipients a specific letter advising them that the funds came from tainted sources, FEC regulations require the recipients to disgorge the funds. Earlier this year the FEC had reached a conciliation agreement, including a $40,500 civil penalty, with Westar and their former officers for improperly facilitating donations.

Westar has admitted that they gave contributions to the PAC of Tom DeLay specifically for the purpose of gaining access to the GOP leadership so they could make their plea for a special provision in federal energy legislation.

Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-K Street) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) were the Republicans assigned to advocate for the special provision after the meeting between Westar executives and DeLay.

The DCCC has previously advocated that Rep. Sam Graves return the tainted contribution he received as other members have done voluntarily.  Graves has declined to do so.

It appears that Rep. Sam Graves was intended to receive a disgorgement letter.  Attorneys for Westar sent the letter to Graves for Congress in Flushing, NY.  However, in fact, the contribution described in that letter is the contribution received by Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.  So Sam Graves should expect his disgorgement letter any day.

Note: A previous version of this post indicated that Sam Graves had already received a disgorgement letter.  It appears due to an error by the attorneys for Westar, that is not the case.  Fired Up! apologizes for any confusion created by this error.