In September, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, a foe of Alaska’s energy economy, came north to Alaska to be a special guest at Rep. Mary Peltola’s fundraiser in Juneau. That was after he had been investigated by the House Ethics Committee for his liaison with Fang-Fang, a suspected Chinese spy.
Now, Swalwell is in trouble again, for running up a tab at the Super Bowl with his campaign account.
Swalwell is known for using his campaign war chest as a “personal piggy bank,” says the American Accountability Foundation, a watchdog group. Swalwell spent campaign funds at the Super Bowl and paid $50,000 to NFL teams for “event tickets,” according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.
“Swalwell’s attendance raises questions about how a congressman known for facing financial struggles was able to afford tickets that cost at least $10,000 apiece. It could also fuel complaints that Swalwell has used campaign money to fund an elaborate lifestyle. In 2021, a conservative watchdog group accused Swalwell of illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses, citing $20,000 in payments for luxury hotel stays. In December, Swalwell’s campaign paid $1,700 for his stay at the Burj al Arab, a five-star hotel in Dubai,” the Free Beacon reported.
Swalwell donated $3,000 to Peltola’s campaign in the fall of 2023, through his leadership political action committee, Remedy PAC, which has also donated to Rep. Adam Schiff’s run for Senate. Schiff is best known for being head of the impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
In the past, Swalwell has been hit with complaints for converting campaign money into gift cards. In 2021, his Federal Elections Commission report showed “anomalies in campaign expenditures that raise troubling questions as to whether campaign disbursements went towards personal use or to the direct benefit of family members,” the watchdog group said in its complaint.
“These anomalies include what appears to be preloading of campaign dollars to a Starbucks account and/or gift cards, paying a family member over $17,000 for ‘childcare’, attending the musical Beach Blanket Babylon, and personal medical testing for COVID-19, among others,” the complaint said.
Read the report at the Washington Free Beacon.
Swalwell says his trip to the Super Bowl was a fundraiser for other Democrats, which is why he bought so many tickets.
