WASHINGTON – Rep. Bob Ney's re-election campaign was fined $2,000 Thursday for failing to properly record two payments last November totaling more than $83,000.
Federal Election Commission documents show the Ohio Republican's campaign failed for six months to report two wire transfers to the Pittsburgh political consulting firm Brabender Cox, one for nearly $48,000 and one for $35,000.
The commission staff did not believe the error was intentional, FEC spokeswoman Kelly Huff said.
Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said a former campaign treasurer failed to write the wire transfers into a check register, and new treasurer Terrence Lee reported the error as soon as he discovered it.
Ney, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, was recently subpoenaed to testify and provide documents in a federal probe of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He spent half of all his campaign contributions from July through September on legal fees. Earlier this month, he created a separate legal defense fund to raise money specifically to pay lawyers.
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