An Arizona GOP legislator who was
among the many rioting crowds on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is going through a
marketing campaign finance criticism alleging that he illegally used money from a
failed re-election bid to attend the rebel.
The criticism in opposition to Sen. Anthony
Kern, R-Glendale claims that Kern improperly used marketing campaign funds from
his failed 2020 re-election to journey to Washington, D.C., to attend the
occasions of Jan. 6, 2021, together with airfare and a lodge keep.
“These journey bills occurred throughout the identical time that Senator Kern traveled to Washington, D.C. for a rally on the United State Capitol on January 6, 2021 – a rally that finally
turned violent and led to the dying of seven folks,” the criticism
filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Workplace by Peoria resident
Josh Grey says.
On Jan. 4 Kern reported an expenditure
for $980.96 for “Journey – lodging” and a $478 expenditure on Jan. 5 for
an airline ticket. On Jan. 11, Kern reported an expenditure of $436.74
for journey and lodging at a Hyatt lodge.
Kern was current on the Capitol, and pictures and video confirmed him in numerous places across the exterior of the constructing after protesters had overrun the advanced, stormed the constructing
and despatched lawmakers fleeing for security. He has mentioned that he didn’t
breach the Capitol, and there’s no footage or different proof suggesting
he did.
“Setting apart the violent and undemocratic nature of the January 6 rally at the USA Capitol, the usage of marketing campaign funds for private journey bills violates Arizona’s marketing campaign finance legal guidelines,” the criticism says.
Arizona marketing campaign finance legislation
says that candidates can not use marketing campaign money for actions unrelated
to profitable their elections. The criticism argues that Kern’s attendance
on the rally two months after he had already misplaced his election
constitutes a private use.
“At that time, any remaining monies in his marketing campaign coffers could be thought-about surplus marketing campaign monies, which Arizona legislation
clearly states, ‘will not be used or transformed for private use,’” the
criticism says. “And whereas Kern for Senate reported receiving the
surplus switch in January 2021,
it’s clear that the funds weren’t transferred to the brand new committee
till after Senator Kern’s journey to Washington, D.C. Certainly, Kern for
Senate was not even fashioned till Could 2021.”
Kern didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
If the secretary of state believes
Kern doubtless violated marketing campaign finance legislation, the criticism might be despatched to
the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace to find out if the legislation was damaged. If
the AG decides that Kern violated the legislation, he should “take corrective
motion inside twenty days” or face a penalty that may be appealed to the
superior court docket, per Arizona legislation.
The day earlier than Jan. 6, Kern rallied
exterior the Capitol with a who’s who of Cease the Steal personas,
together with the motion’s ringleader, Ali Alexander, and election fraud conspiracy promoter Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow.
“In Arizona, there’s a courageous man
that I’m making an attempt to persuade to run for state senate or Congress,
Anthony Kern,” Alexander mentioned earlier than Kern took the stage as rain poured down on Jan. 5.
“Mitch McConnell, I’m not frightened
about optics right here at the moment,” Kern instructed the group earlier than talking about
abortion and evaluating the state of affairs to the invasion of Normandy in
World Warfare II. “We is not going to enable the vote to be stolen from our duly
elected president.”
There isn’t any proof that fraud or malfeasance affected the end result of the presidential election.
On Jan. 6, Kern tweeted within the
morning earlier than Trump’s speech and didn’t tweet once more till 3 p.m. That
tweet was a picture of the Capitol steps, overtaken by protesters.
Pictures circulated on-line exhibiting Kern among those protesters on the steps. He later mocked a few of his critics on Twitter.
“You okay @AzHouseDems? Need me to name the police?” he tweeted
on April 19, responding to criticism by the Arizona Home Democratic
caucus after information broke that Kern was engaged on the Arizona audit.
Kern has been a proponent of the
“#StopTheSteal” motion because the election, utilizing the hashtag 17 instances
on Twitter from November via Jan. 6.
“D-Day in DC to assist Arizona’s and America’s duly elected President Donald Trump! #StoptheSteal,” Kern tweeted on Jan. 6 round 10 a.m. with an image of the stage the place Trump would quickly communicate.