Rep. Pence amends finance reports to ‘avoid confusion’

Greg Pence

Some campaign finance reports for U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., were amended after his office was questioned about expenses for lodging at hotels named for President Donald Trump.

Pence, a Columbus resident, is a freshman congressman representing Indiana’s 6th District who was elected to the position Nov. 6. He’s also one of Vice President Mike Pence’s brothers.

Of 22 filing entries regarding expenditures at Trump hotels in either Washington, D.C., or New York dating to November 2017, six were amended by Greg Pence’s campaign — all dated Nov. 14, 2018, or later. Five originally were listed as “lodging expense” and one as a “reception expense.” All six — totaling $13,631.02 in expenditures at the Trump International Hotel in Washington — were changed to “fundraising event costs.”

The items that were changed were not personal living expenses, Pence’s chief of staff Kyle Robertson said.

“All the expenses incurred by the campaign were fundraising event expenses,” Robertson said. “There was a clarification made on one reference point to which we did not have to amend but chose to … to reflect the true nature of the expense.”

Members of Congress are expected to provide their own personal housing in Washington.

The Federal Election Commission has rules about how campaign funds may be used. “Personal use is prohibited,” according to the FEC rules.

Pocketing campaign funds or using the money for a personal vacation, for example, would be a violation, FEC spokesman Myles Martin said. However, lodging expenses related to the campaign are permitted.

“Candidates are given wide discretion on how to use campaign funds. They can be used in any expense with the campaign,” he said.

A USA TODAY reporter questioned Robertson about the expenses for a story that published June 11. It was after that when the filings were amended.

Robertson said the Trump International is a hotel that also is used to host events, so it would be pretty easy to get an expense confused with lodging. He described the filings that were amended as “clerical errors that could have been amended at any point.”

Robertson also noted that the FEC has not contacted Pence’s campaign with questions about the expenditures.

“We were not asked to do anything, this was done voluntarily. We felt it (was best) to avoid any confusion. There’s zero to hide,” Robertson said.

Greg Pence has told The Republic previously that he has an apartment in Washington where he stays during the week before returning to Columbus for the weekend. Robertson said it was about December when Pence secured the apartment.

In all, Pence’s campaign has spent $44,990.01 at the Trump hotels through the end of March, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Campaign watchdog groups have tracked expenses by candidates and members of Congress at Trump properties since his 2017 inauguration, and have raised concerns about the ethics of the president profiting from those expenditures. According to a May 24 story by The Hill, Republican candidates and campaign committees have spent more than $4 million at Trump properties.

Robertson questioned the motivation of the inquiries into the campaign’s expenses.

“It’s a political attack on a non-issue that goes above and beyond what is required by the FEC,” Robertson said.

Campaign committees often file amended reports with the FEC when they discover omissions or errors, in order to correct the public record, Martin said.

“It’s quite common. Most committees may have to file an amendment at one time or another,” he added.

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To view campaign finance reports for members of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, or candidates for those offices, go online at fec.gov and click on the "campaign finance data" tab for a variety of search options.

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