Evidence shows that Rep. Gwen Moore Abused Her Leadership PAC
Washington, D.C.— July 9th — Today, the non-partisan ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), filed a complaint requesting the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigate and take appropriate action on Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin. Rep. Moore appears to have violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by abusing her leadership PAC to the point that its activities demonstrate it to be a “scam PAC”.
Rep. Gwen Moore’s leadership PAC, named “Giving Willingly Empowering Nationally” (GWEN PAC), was established to support candidates for public office and is legally required to do so. In the 2024 election cycle GWEN PAC made only $14,500 in 12 contributions to political committees or organizations--just 5% of its overall spending. Thus, 94.8% of GWEN PAC’s spending went toward things other than the law’s required purpose of supporting candidates or causes. GWEN PAC’s spending proves that instead of being the leadership PAC it claims to be, the organization is operating as a scam PAC, or a PAC that raises funds under the guise of supporting candidates when in fact the majority of their spending goes to “operating costs”. Federal candidates may not operate a scam PAC.
While a similar ratio of spending has occurred since the PAC's inception, reviewing GWEN PAC’s most recent spending over the last two quarters of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 makes it clear that the majority of their funds are not going to support candidates. GWEN PAC spent almost eight times more on just food and travel than it did on its required purpose of supporting candidates. Principle examples of this spending include alcohol, catering, food delivery, groceries, restaurants, hotels, and to a resort in California’s wine country. Additionally, a majority of the PAC's spending, $53,150.00 to be exact, for this time period went to “consulting services”, of which one of the consultants is her own sister.
“The law only allows House Members to operate two kinds of organizations—and a scam PAC is not one of them. There should be no question that when 95% of a PAC's spending is not on its legally required purpose, it qualifies as a scam PAC. The bottom line is that this case is so extreme that anyone donating to GWEN PAC is either (1) being completely bamboozled by Rep. Moore or (2) is doing so knowingly in an attempt to influence the Member. I hope the FEC takes swift action in this case,” said Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT.
A full copy of FACT’s complaint can be found HERE.
FACT is a nonprofit organization promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas. For more on FACT, visit: http://www.factdc.org
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