Sean
Duffy
(Photo
By
Tom
Williams/CQ
Roll
Call)
Real
World
Boston
star
and
former
competitive
lumberjack
Sean
Duffy
may
have
been
dubbed
Donald
Trump’s
“least
embarrassing”
Cabinet
pick,
but
that’s
damning
with
faint
praise.
As
a
recap,
Duffy
got
the
nod
for
Transportation
Secretary
from
a
fellow
former
reality
TV
star
turned
politician.
Duffy,
a
graduate
of
the
William
Mitchell
College
of
Law,
began
his
career
as
a
prosecutor
before
winning
a
seat
in
the
House
of
Representatives.
In
2019
he
resigned
from
Congress
after
his
ninth
child
was
diagnosed
with
health
complications.
(Yes,
Duffy
has
9(!)
children
with
another
Real
World
alum,
Rachel
Campos-Duffy,
who,
like
her
husband,
is
off
the
far-right
deep
end
—
she
recently
joined
in
Nancy
Mace’s
particularly
mean-spirited
form
of
transphobia.
Pedro
would
be
so
disappointed.)
Now
Bloomberg
Law
has
a
deep
dive
into
how
Duffy
spent
some
of
those
campaign
funds
after
he
stepped
away
from
politics.
Duffy,
a
former
GOP
congressman,
held
$2.1
million
in
his
principal
campaign
committee
as
of
Oct.
16,
money
that
he
has
drawn
on
since
leaving
office
in
2019,
according
to
a
Bloomberg
Government
analysis
of
Federal
Election
Commission
documents.
Duffy
for
Wisconsin,
his
campaign
committee,
disclosed
paying
the
Ritz-Carlton
more
than
$5,700
in
March
for
what
it
described
as
“travel,”
$2,800
in
2021,
and
$3,300
in
2020,
FEC
records
show.
Saurav
Ghosh,
director
at
the
Campaign
Legal
Center,
points
out
some
potential
issues
with
those
expenses,
“Using
campaign
funds
to
pay
for
travel
or
meals
or
various
other
charges
in
connection
with
a
campaign
or
official
duties
would
not
be
permitted
for
someone
long
after
they’ve
left
office
because
they
are
no
longer
serving
or
seeking
elected
office.
The
nexus
that’s
required
to
use
campaign
funds
simply
isn’t
there.”
Not
that
Duffy
is
the
first
to
use
former
campaign
funds
questionably.
“Former
members
of
Congress
can
use
their
excess
campaign
funds
to
make
contributions
to
candidates,
political
parties
and
non-profit
organizations,
but
they
cannot
convert
those
funds
to
personal
use,”
said
Brett
Kappel,
a
campaign
finance
lawyer
at
Harmon
Curran.
“Several
former
members
have
been
fined
by
the
FEC
for
using
excess
campaign
funds
to
pay
for
personal
travel.”The
FEC
chided
former
Rep.
Cliff
Stearns
(R-Fla.)
for
using
his
old
campaign
funds
for
hotel
stays,
club
dues,
and
meals
and
came
to
a
“conciliation”
agreement
over
the
matter
in
2019.
And
Tiffany
Muller,
president
of
End
Citizens
United,
put
none
too
fine
a
point
on
it,
saying,
“If
Sean
Duffy
can’t
resist
the
urge
to
use
his
old
campaign
account
as
a
personal
slush
fund,
how
can
he
be
trusted
to
manage
the
Department
of
Transportation’s
budget
with
integrity?
His
judgment
is
compromised
and
his
ethics
are
questionable.”
But
the
Republican
wagons
are
circling.
Lee
Goodman,
a
former
chair
of
the
FEC
and
partner
at
the
firm
Wiley,
said
during
an
interview
arranged
by
the
Trump-Vance
transition,
that
at
least
one
of
the
Ritz-Carlton
bills
was
to
attend
a
fundraising
retreat
of
the
National
Republican
Congressional
Committee,
along
with
possibly
family
members
of
the
former
lawmaker.
He
said
that
would
be
deemed
“permissible.”“The
dollar
figures
at
issue
here
are
not
large,
and
the
circumstances
are
all
defensible,”
Goodman
said,
adding
that
“even
if
there
were
questions
about
personal
use”
that
“I’m
certain
the
Federal
Election
Commission
would
not
pursue
enforcement
action
over
them.”
“Defensible”?
What
was
I
saying
about
faint
praise
earlier?
And
the
Trump-Vance
transition
team
spokesperson,
Karoline
Leavitt,
called
it
a
“non-story.”
Of
course,
compared
with
some
of
the
other
stories
about
other
Cabinet
nominees
this
may
not
have
the
juice
to
become
a
major
scandal.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
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@Kathryn1 or
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@[email protected].