Rep. Mia Love kept on raising money after convention and said she would not give it back to citizens – as she is supposed to: advocates

In a response to a prepared statement by Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), Alliance for a Better Utah, a left-leaning organization that advocates government responsibility and openness, said that Love stated that she “can only keep the money raised prior to (Utah’s nominating) convention. However, Love continued to raise money after the convention and so far has said she would only redesignate that money, rather than returning it to voters as required.”

Just prior to a debate Monday for the 4th congressional district, Love had stated: “A senior campaign finance analyst at the Federal Election Commission contacted my campaign today to inform us that the position of the FEC’s Office of General Counsel is that my campaign was legally allowed to raise primary-election contributions.”

“Let’s be clear: a conversation with an FEC staffer as related in a statement from the Love campaign is not an official clearance from the Federal Election Commission,” Better Utah Executive Director Chase Thomas said.

In a response to a prepared statement by Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), the good-government group Alliance for a Better Utah said that the statement says that Love “can only keep the money raised prior to (Utah's nominating) convention. However, Love continued to raise money after the convention and so far has said she would only redesignate that money, rather than returning it to voters as required.” (Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Better Utah filed an official FEC complaint that Better Utah "just confirmed" the FEC got, Thomas said Monday evening.

“Once we receive an official response, we will release that to the public,” Thomas said. “If the FEC does say she could keep that money, we will accept that official ruling.”

Love also said that her campaign “may retain all primary-election contributions we received before the date of the convention.”

Thomas also said Better Utah was continuing a call to the Love campaign “to return all the money raised after the date of the Convention, as required by the law and regulations of the FEC."

As CNN reported on Sept. 10, “Rep. Mia Love's campaign has informed the Federal Election Commission that it will refund or redesignate less than half of what the government says was more than a million dollars improperly raised for a primary that was never expected to happen, according to documents reviewed by CNN.”