Powers collected salary from campaign funds

When Jon Powers, the party and blogosphere choice for Dems in the 26th Congressional district, was running for office much was made over just how Powers was earning a living given that he had never been a full-time member of the civilian workforce.

Powers’ critics were answered by his supporters pointing to his history of substitute teaching as a possible source of income.

Voters may remember that the Federal Election Commission cited Powers for illegally using campaign funds to reimburse himself for rent.  However, those who followed that issue closely, and those who visited the WBP throughout the ordeal will recall that there was more to the FEC’s citation than rent monies.  From my original WBP post:

the official Request for Additional Information filed by the FEC on March 13th does not necessarily question only the rental monies:

Schedule B of your report discloses reimbursements to individuals for expenses other than travel and subsistance. Please be advised that reimbursements to individuals . . . if the payment to the original vendor aggregates in excess of $200 in an election cycle, a memo entry including the name and address of the original vendor … and purpose of the original purchase.

-snip-

Powers original filing shows roughly $2500 listed as “reimbursement” in the Purpose for Disbursement field on the filing.

Similar mystery payments from the campaign to Powers himself continued to appear on filings listed simply as”reimbursement.”  However, as the FEC pointed out in its communication to Powers, more detail should have been provided as to the original expenditures requiring the reimbursements.

Powers recent FEC filing gives us a better idea of just what these “reimbursements” were.  Remember that Powers was also being reimbursed already for credit card fees, meals, travel and health insurance.

It turns out these “reimbursements” are more accurately defined as a salary which Powers was drawing from the campaign account.

Powers latest filing shows a payment to the candidate in September in the amount of $5,000 listed with the true explanation of the amounts: Payroll.

Add the $5K to the other mystery “reimbursements” and Powers netted a comfortable five-figure salary while he was running for Congress.  When one considers that Powers still has nearly $100,000 on hand, none of which is going to other Dem candidates or the party (aren’t you glad you joined Club 26?), he can further delay actually having to get a real job while living comfortably for at least a year or two.

The above scenario is not so far-fetched when the filing is considered, Powers most recent paycheck was cut over a week after Powers had lost the Dem primary to Alice Kryzan.