Florida Democrat in Ethics Committee Crosshairs Over Alleged Campaign Finance Violations

Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee over potential campaign finance violations and House rules violations.

The 44-year-old New York native moved to Florida as a teenager and attended high school there before obtaining a degree in political science from Howard University and a law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law. She initially ran for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 20th Congressional District in 2018 in a bid to unseat incumbent Alcee Hastings. Cherfilus-McCormick lost to Hastings then and again in 2020. However, after Hastings died in office in 2021, she secured a victory in the Democratic primary and then in the general in a special election, and took office in January of 2022.

But now, the avowed progressive is the subject of an ethics investigation, announced Wednesday.

In a release, the committee said that the subpanel will determine whether Cherfilus-McCormick “may have violated campaign finance laws and regulations in connection with her 2022 special election and/or 2022 re-election campaigns; failed to properly disclose required information on statements required to be filed with the House; and/or accepted voluntary services for official work from an individual not employed in her congressional office.”

The investigation was prompted following a referral by the Office of Congressional Ethics in September.

In response to the announcement, a spokesperson for Cherfilus-McCormick stated:

“As the Ethics Committee said in its statement, the mere fact of establishing an investigative subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation occurred. Regardless, the Congresswoman takes these matters seriously and is working to resolve them.”

During the 2022 special election, Cherfilus-McCormick loaned more than $3.7 million to her campaign and narrowly secured victory in the primary — by 11,662 votes to 11,657 votes for her opponent, Broward County Commissioner Darrell Holness — following a recount.

Cherfilus-McCormick is far from alone in facing scrutiny by the Ethics Committee this year.

As RedState reported in March, the Office of Congressional Ethics, which includes members from both parties, unanimously found that there was “substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had violated federal law. That is related to her acceptance of tickets to the Met Gala in 2021 as well as other items, including her “tax the rich” dress that she flaunted while at the event. That investigation remains ongoing, though the chances of Joe Biden’s DOJ bringing charges are essentially zero.
Next up is Rep. Ilhan Omar, who had an affair with one of her campaign vendors that she was also paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to. She then married him, presumably giving her access to all the money she paid him. As campaign finance scams go, you can’t fault that one for a lack of creativity.
Then there’s Rep. Cori Bush, the House’s top race-baiter who has never found an issue that didn’t somehow connect back to left-wing intersectionalism. As an example, she once infamously proclaimed that anti-abortion laws disproportionately harm gay people. How that works has yet to be determined.
Bush was previously accused of misusing campaign funds to pay for “security.” As previously reported, the House member paid her now-husband at least $60,000 for “security services.” The problem? He wasn’t even licensed in Missouri or Washington, D.C., to offer such services. Further, Bush spent over $500,000 total for “security” during just the 2022 election year, a number that doesn’t begin to make sense when you consider Omar only spent $65,000 in the same time period.
That brings me to the latest news. Bush has now been served with an official ethics complaint unrelated to the above corruption. Instead, the complaint revolves around the misuse of government resources.