Daily Beast: “Swing-district Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) has styled herself as a small business booster in the image of Donald Trump – and just like the former president, some of Tenney’s favorite businesses to support seem to be her own. According to a Daily Beast review of Federal Election Commission records, the congresswoman from upstate New York – who scratched out a 109-vote recount win earlier this year in one of the tightest House races in the nation – has spent tens of thousands of campaign dollars on businesses where she held an ownership stake or an executive job, and from which she reported $130,120 in income in 2020.”

“This year alone, as she wrestled Democratic opponent Anthony Brindisi over the final vote tally in court, Tenney shelled out $15,634.85 for a medley of rent, telephone service, and office supplies to OMP Park, Inc., a company that New York business records show is registered in her name and which identifies her as its CEO. In her 2016 personal financial disclosure, Tenney reported that she was the entity’s president. That same year, her campaign paid a combined $28,676.86 for rent, utilities, printing, and postage to OMP and to Mid-York Press, a company where her official congressional page states she served as ‘co-owner and legal counsel.’ Her official financial filing at the time identified her as Mid-York’s secretary as well. In total, Tenney’s campaigns, both for federal and state offices, have earned her family’s companies more than $100,000. The Tenney team did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told The Daily Beast that federal law allows for candidates to pay their own companies out of their campaign funds so long as all transactions are market rate. Undercharging renders an advantage to the campaign, while overcharging enriches the candidate.”