Oregon Senate Republican candidate fined $29,900 for campaign finance violations

Another day, another example of RW hypocrisy.

Jim Huffman, the Republican candidate in Oregon’s 2010 U.S. Senate race, has been fined by the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance violations involving $1.3 million that his wife made available to his campaign.

Huffman, the former dean of the Lewis & Clark Law School,  agreed along with his wife, Leslie Spencer, and campaign treasurer Lisa Lisker, to pay a $29,900 civil penalty stemming from financial transactions made during his losing race against Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

During the campaign, Huffman reported loaning a total of $1.35 million to his campaign but refused to say where the money came from.  The Democratic Party of Oregon later filed a complaint, leading to the investigation by the commission.

As it turned out, a compliance agreement that Huffman, his wife and campaign treasurer reached with the election commission said that all but $50,000 came from Huffman’s wife, who is the beneficiary of family trusts worth $7.7 million.

Under federal election law, spouses of a candidate have to observe the same contribution limits as any other individual donor, who in 2010 could give no more than $2,400 to a candidate per election.  A candidate, however, can contribute up to half of joint family assets to his or her own campaign.