Left to Right: Mark Finchem’s Venmo account and the PayPal account he directed followers to.
Arizona Mirror
A liberal watchdog group is accusing Oro Valley Republican legislator and secretary of state hopeful Mark Finchem of violating Arizona campaign finance law by asking supporters to donate to his personal PayPal and Venmo accounts to pay off an unofficial election integrity hearing.
The Arizona Mirror first reported on how Finchem was asking his followers on alt-right social media platform Gab and encrypted messaging platform Telegram to donate to a PayPal account, which Finchem said was for the Make Arizona Safe Again PAC, which has since been renamed Make Arizona Precincts Sound.
Finchem in March announced he was running for secretary of state in 2022, which would make him the top elections official in the state.
“First, we found that Rep. Finchem ignored Arizona’s financial disclosure laws and now it appears he’s violated campaign finance law,” Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith told the Mirror. “Not a great start for someone running for higher office. The Secretary of State should conduct an investigation and refer the matter to the Attorney General for further action.”
Finchem wrote on Telegram that his supporters had donated more than $14,000 after he had requested for help carrying the debt of the event.
