Federal Election Commission Investigating Devin Nunes For Illegal Campaign Contributions

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has notified the campaign committee of California Congressman Devin Nunes that they are investigating possible violations of campaign finance laws by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

The FEC sent a letter on Wednesday to Nunes through the committee that has been raising funds for his campaigns.  They are especially interested in a few specific contributions that Nunes received in 2017.

The woman who received the letter from the FEC, Toni Nunes, is his campaign treasurer and also his mother.  She has provided no comment to the press.

The letter has made a formal request for “information essential to full public disclosure” about three campaign contributions to Nunes that they believe might be considered in violation of federal election laws.

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The contributions in question are:

1. $3,000 contributed to Nunes’ by Harris Lee Cohen, the manager of “SIFI,” or Setton International Foods, Inc. in Terra Bella, CA. and the general manager of Setton Pistachio Company.
2. Contributions that total $16,700 for Nunes’ campaign and victory fund from Joshua Setton, the President/CEO of Setton Farms in Terra Bella, California.
3. $3,000 contributed to Nunes campaign committee from Jeffrey J. Kimbell, president of a Washington lobbying firm.  Kimbell’s FEC contribution information lists him as a self-employed “health care consultant.”

According to ProPublica, Kimbell’s firm lobbied on behalf of clients who stood to benefit from two bills sponsored by Nunes in the House of Representatives:

• the Ambulance Medicare Budget and Operations Act of 2017, introduced in July, and
• the Comprehensive Operations, Sustainability, and Transport Act of 2017, introduced in September.

Contributions by both Kimbell and Cohen violate federal legal limits on campaign contributions.  These rules specifically prohibit “an individual…[from making] contribution(s) to a candidate for federal office in excess of $2,700 per election.”

Another contribution in question is the $10,000 that was contributed to Nunes in November, 2017 by Stone Land Company, a farming company in Nunes’ congressional district.  This company has been lobbying a federal agency — the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — to provide funding for a “reliable water supply” in the state and to repair “California’s broken water system.”

This $10,000 contribution to the Nunes campaign committee is a violation of the federal election law which prohibits contributions “from corporations and labor organizations unless made from separate segregated funds established by the corporations and labor organizations.”

The letter says that Nunes has until April 24th to respond to the FEC.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.