Today, a new report from HuffPost exposes Arizona GOP state Senate candidate Anthony Kern, who appears to have used campaign donations to fund his trip to Washington, D.C. where he attended the January 6th insurrection.
According to newly-reported campaign finance data, Kern was reimbursed nearly $2000 for lodging and airplane tickets to Washington, D.C., where he marched on the U.S. Capitol with other rioters. Kern listed the expense on his campaign finance report as a hotel stay in “MANHATTON, NEW YORK, AZ 11111,” which, as HuffPost notes, “does not exist.”
Kern – who has repeatedly pushed Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” and participated in Maricopa County’s sham “audit” – is running for Arizona’s 20th State Senate District.
HuffPost: It Sure Looks Like This Arizona Republican Used Campaign Cash To Attend Jan. 6 Riot
By: Daniel Marans | January 25, 2022
Key Points:
- “It’s no secret that Anthony Kern, who is running for state Senate in Arizona, went to Washington for the infamous “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021. He even posted an image of his flight on Facebook.”
- “But according to new campaign finance data, it appears that he also used campaign money to fund the trip.”
- “Last week, Kern — a former GOP state representative who lost reelection in 2020 — submitted campaign finance data to the Arizona Board of Elections that raises additional questions about his conduct leading up to the U.S. Capitol riot.”
- “The campaign finance disclosure form, which lists Kern’s expenditures and the contributions he received in 2021, shows that his campaign paid for three unusual travel and lodging-related expenses shortly before and after Jan. 6, 2021.”
- “First, on Jan. 4, the day that Kern posted a photo of himself flying to Washington, his campaign paid him $980.96 for an expense described as ‘Travel – Lodging.’”
- “The next day, Kern’s campaign paid him $478 for an ‘airline ticket.’”
- “And on Jan. 11, Kern’s campaign paid Hyatt Hotels $436.74 for an expense that Kern described as ‘Travel – Lodging.’ The Hyatt Hotels address is listed on the disclosure form as ‘MANHATTON, NEW YORK, AZ 11111,’ which does not exist.”
- “Kern, who stands by the baseless idea that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, denies entering the Capitol and has never been charged with a crime. He also endorsed prosecuting any “Stop the Steal” rally-goers who subsequently broke the law by storming the Capitol and engaging in acts of violence. However, video footage of the riot shows Kern standing near a part of the Capitol where rioters streamed in, the Arizona Mirror reported in May.”
- “Kern has “continuously pushed the ‘Big Lie,’ participated in the sham election review in Maricopa County that cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and grifted donors into paying for his travel costs to join an attack on our country,” Chew said in a statement. “All of this is utterly disqualifying to run for the Arizona Senate.”
Read the full report here.
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Published: Jan 25, 2022 | Last Modified: Jan 28, 2022