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Diamondhead, Miss. – Today, congressional candidate Carl Boyanton released his Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) complaints against Rep. Steven Palazzo (MS-04) for misuse of campaign funds and Congressional funds.
Boyanton sent his violation claim to the FEC in January, stating that, for years, Palazzo has been using campaign money to pay the monthly rent to Green Acres, LLC – a business he owns in its entirety – for a 40-acre farm in Perkinson, Miss.
“That’s just him utilizing his campaign finance money for personal gain,” Boyanton said. “It’s Mississippi’s own swamp creature that we keep sending back to Congress. We keep electing the same guy that’s just enriching himself.”
Among other exhibits of Palazzo’s indiscretions, Boyanton cites an incident last June when Palazzo spent over $119,000 in candidate travel expenses at Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The standard nightly rate for rooms at that hotel is $250.
In the OCE submission, Boyanton said Palazzo is renting a district office owned by his attorney for a whopping $6000 a month – a price double the neighborhood market value. In comparison, the respective rents for his other district offices are $345.50 and $800. Boyanton described it as a possible “kickback scheme.”
“He’s corrupt,” Boyanton said. “He’s spending his campaign money and our taxpayer dollars like it’s his own piggy bank.”
In 2011, Palazzo had separate FEC complaints filed against him for potentially excessive contributions and having “received contributions in the name of another” when associates “provided funds to friends, relatives, and others to donate to Steven Palazzo’s campaign.”
Boyanton is running for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th Congressional District of Mississippi. He is a conservative businessman, pushing for term limits to retire career and corrupt politicians.
