Mississippi Congressman Used $61,000 Of Campaign Money To Fight Ethics Investigation

Subscribe to Forbes’ new Checks & Imbalances newsletter to get exclusive scoops like this one delivered to your inbox.

A U.S. congressman under investigation for allegedly using campaign money to pay for personal expenses dipped into those same funds to cover his legal fees. Doing so, however, does not appear to violate federal election law. 

In August 2020, the House’s Office of Congressional Ethics voted 6-0 to investigate Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) for allegedly using campaign funds to maintain his riverfront property, asking his staffers to perform campaign work and personal errands and using his official position to help his brother reenlist in the Navy.

Fast forward to June 6: the Federal Election Commission asked the campaign of the six-term congressman to clarify its use of “Professional Fees” when explaining expenses detailed in its 2020 year-end report. Those outlays included $61,000 in payments to the Mississippi law firm Watkins & Eager in December. The campaign has not yet told the FEC why it paid the law firm, but a spokesperson explained to Forbes that the payments covered legal fees pertaining to Palazzo’s ethics investigation.

“Yes, those are legal fees, and that is how we will describe them,” Justin Brasell of campaign consultancy Triumph Campaigns wrote in an email. When asked if they pertained to the ethics investigation, Brasell replied, “Yes.”

The FEC allows candidates to use campaign funds to cover legal fees related to their position. An advisory opinion issued in 1998 stated that, while the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 bars candidates from using campaign funds for personal use, “any legal expense that relates directly to allegations arising from campaign or officeholder activity would qualify for 100% payment with campaign funds.” 

The legal fees made up almost 60 percent of the campaign’s disbursements during the six-week period the report covers.