(MPR) U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar violated state rules when she used thousands of dollars of campaign funds to pay for personal out-of-state travel and help on her tax returns, according to a ruling from the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board on Thursday.
Omar, who was a first-term state representative at the time of the violations, must reimburse her former campaign committee $3,469 to cover those travel and legal costs. She must also pay the state a $500 civil penalty for using campaign cash to travel to Florida, where she accepted an honorarium.
The board found Omar’s campaign purchased a plane ticket to Boston to speak at a political rally, paid for a hotel in Washington, D.C., where she participated in an interview for the Girl UP UN conference, and covered her travel to Chicago to accept an award and attend a fundraising luncheon.
