STIFF PENALTY

Maxine Waters’ Campaign to Pay $68,000 Fine After FEC Probe

The investigation found that the veteran Democrat’s committee violated multiple laws.

Rep. Maxine Waters’ campaign committee has agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after an FEC investigation found that her election campaign violated multiple finance laws. The California Democrat’s 2020 campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, was found to have accepted campaign donations totaling $19,000 from seven donors in 2019 and 2020, despite the maximum legal contribution from a single individual in California being capped at $2,800. In documents filed by the FEC, Waters is accused of “failing to accurately report receipts and disbursements in calendar year 2020,” “knowingly accepting excessive contributions,” and “making prohibited cash disbursements.” Open Secrets reports that Waters’ campaign accepted the charges and has agreed to pay the $68,000 fine, as well as promising to send its treasurer to a “Commission-sponsored training program for political committees within one year of the effective date of this Agreement.” The campaign maintains that the financial violations were “errors” that were “not willful or purposeful,” Open Secrets reports. Waters, 86, has served in Congress since 1991.