HONOLULU (AP) - A Hawaii congressional candidate is accused of misusing funds donated to his campaigns for the state House, including using campaign money for personal expenses.
State Rep. Kaniela Ing has failed to report more than $28,000 in campaign donations and more than $87,000 in campaign expenditures since 2011, the state Campaign Spending Commission said Thursday.
The unreported spending included more than $2,000 in campaign money used to pay rent, about $1,000 used to pay legal fees and more than $200 used to pay Ing’s partner’s credit card bills, according to the commission.
“The (alleged violations) are very serious,” Kristin Izumi-Nitao said, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission, whose staff subpoenaed bank records to make their case. “Unfortunately, we found many of his reports were irregular.”
Ing, a Democrat currently running in the 1st Congressional District of Hawaii, has apologized and said that any errors were unintentional, Hawaii News Now reported .
He declined to address the allegations of personal use of his campaign money.
“I really would like to answer that question directly and get into these details and questions of each individual count but my counsel says that I should not,” he said.
The commission will further discuss the issue during its next meeting on Wednesday.
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Information from: KGMB-TV, http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/
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