Revealed: Donors foot the bill for Marjorie Taylor Greene's election law violation

The Federal Election Commission recently fined Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene $12,000 after determining the Georgia congresswoman personally violated an election law after illegally fundraising for a conservative super PAC.

But Greene’s campaign donors — not Greene herself — are footing the bill, according to an image of the payment check that Raw Story obtained from the FEC.

The check for the full $12,000 comes from Greene for Congress Inc., the congresswoman’s donor-fueled campaign committee.

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Dated Dec. 12, the check’s memo line reads “penalty.” Jason D. Boles, Greene for Congress Inc.’s treasurer, sent the check, according to an accompanying letter to the FEC, whose six-member, bipartisan commission voted 5-1 to approve a fine agreement with Greene.

Greene’s congressional office did not respond to a Raw Story inquiry. Greene’s lawyers had argued to the FEC — to no avail — that the congresswoman did not violate the law.

Political candidates are generally prohibited from using campaign cash for personal use. A candidate may not, for example, pocket a wad of donor dollars and use them for a luxury cruise or down payment on a new residence.

But in Greene’s case, the FEC is unlikely to question Greene for Congress Inc. covering its namesake candidate’s debt.

That’s because the agency would consider the fine “a cost she wouldn't have incurred unless she was a candidate,” election law attorney Brett Kappel of law firm Harmon Curran explained.

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Greene not paying the fine herself may, however, may concern some of her supporters.

“If I was one of her donors, I wouldn’t want my donations to be paying fines for when she did something wrong,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog organization that filed an initial FEC complaint against Greene. “There’s a little bit of an optics issue.”

Greene for Congress Inc. spending power isn't likely to be adversely affected by the $12,000 payment — as of Oct. 30, it boasted a cash balance of nearly $860,000, according to disclosures filed with the FEC.