House Republicans have introduced a bill they are calling the OMAR act that would prevent candidates from paying their spouses with campaign funds.
Omar has faced criticism for paying her husband’s firm $2.8 million in the 2020 campaign cycle.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) said “For too long, lawmakers of both political parties have engaged in the ethically dubious practice of pocketing campaign funds by ‘hiring’ their spouses and laundering the money as campaign-related expenses.”
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) said “Loopholes that allow members of Congress to funnel campaign funds to their spouses are despicable and erode trust in our government.
“There’s simply no logical reason for allowing this practice to continue, and I’m proud to join Rep. Tiffany in this common-sense effort to ensure members can’t profit off running for Congress,” he added.
November, Omar finally severed financial ties with her husband’s political consulting firm after her campaign has paid his company nearly $2.8 million, sparking criticism.
Omar said in an email to supporters her campaign was terminating the contract to “make sure that anybody who is supporting our campaign with their time or financial support feels there is no perceived issue with that support.”
Per Fox News “The contract was a lucrative one for E Street Group LLC, which is owned by Omar’s now-husband Tim Mynett: Her campaign reported paying the firm more than $1.6 million from the beginning of 2019 through July 22, 2020, according to Federal Election Commission data, on top of another $1.1 million in the third quarter of this year alone.”
March of 2020 Omar, wrote a multi-part tweet thread defending the financial relationship.
Will Hailer and Tim founded eStreet after working on Keith Ellison’s campaign for years. Will, who is from MN, managed Keith’s Congressional campaign two cycles and helped increase voter turnout in #MN05.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
His work played a major role in keeping Minnesota blue under President Obama, helped defeat an anti-voter statewide constitutional ID, elected a blue state legislative delegation from our district and laid the groundwork that allowed us to keep it blue in 2016.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
Will reached out when I announced my Congressional run in June of 2018, the day that Keith Ellison announced he was running for Attorney General.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
eStreet isn’t just a consulting company to our campaign, they specialize in MN and are essential to the work we and other campaigns do every day.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
The second thing they would see: we pay fair market value for these services, but spend relatively little on fundraising compared to how much we raise, allowing us to invest more in organizing work to pass a bold progressive agenda.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
As a family, we are committed to the practice of joy, compassion and love in our politics. And we are giving ourselves the permission to be happy and hope others will as well.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 17, 2020