San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter came under scrutiny during recent campaign for his spending. He used his campaign credit card to buy look like personal expenditures like video games, groceries and Italian hotel room. Hunter apologized to pay back his campaign before the November election. Now we know more about how Hunter came up with nearly $50,000 he used to repay the campaign. My guest in studio is Morgan Cook, reporter, The San Diego Union-Tribune We already knew Duncan Hunter took out a home equity loan last month repay his campaign for $50,000 in questionable expenditures but what have you learned recently about how that one was procured? We learned it's not your run-of-the-mill average bank loan. It's what they call a hard money loan. Which is where you go when you can't get financing through regular more normal bank transactions. We learned it's that type of loan and we learned the person he brokered the loan knows his family, knows his father and has a criminal history. The broker, is just a solace. He is 85 years old and many years ago, four years ago. He killed his friend and business partner after discovering he is having an affair with his wife. Before that, he was a very good an upstanding citizen by all accounts. Since then he has been a very good an upstanding citizen. I think it's fine that we just weren't expecting to see that. This is a slightly unusual kind of him. He took it out in early November before the election. And paid it off earlier this month when he sold his home in Alpine. Why it wouldn't take out a loan for just one month? Is the timing of election. Before the election he went to want to show he takes responsibility for any mistakes made by his campaign. He wants to go on the path forward with doing the right thing, doing what is necessary to make the situation rights even at great personal cost. Tackle the terms of loan for the There's a lot we don't know about that. Much of it is not public record. We don't know for sure what the interest rate was. We don't know what fees may have been involved. His office tells us it was their market terms and use, he qualified it was all above board. There was a $50,000 loan. Earlier in April he started reporting on as he paid back 12,000's campaign when this whole question started to arise. Do we know how he found the money for that? We do not. We've asked questions about that. They climbed to tell us about that. But they say when the next round of financial disclosures come out, statements of personal economic interest, if they need to disclose that source, they will. What is all this tell us about his personal financial situation? If the expenses were meant for personal use, is charging $60,000 his family didn't have. What conclusions might be drawn? We might draw a variety of conclusions. I would be speculating wildly but one possibility, his personal financial situation was difficult. That he used money from his campaign to help pay for his family's needs. It's also possible his personal financial situation was fine. And these are mistakes and justifiable expenses for the It appears he has no Fistric sold his house Heaphy zones. Yes. He was able to use the proceeds to pay off these loans but he has also been his name has come up as a possibility for different appointments in the next administration. It's also possible that future wasn't certain what they thought we want to sell our house in you. You have been covering this issue for a while. What is your take on how unusual this is and what it says about Congress is management of his finances. It's very unusual. We don't see campaign spending money on oral surgery. We don't see campaign's charging $1300 to online videogame writers. It's very uncommon, Syria unusual and it raises a lot of red flags. When you consider all those things, there's a lot of risk involved. We've been trying to be diligent and turn over all the rocks make sure everything is okay. Just a solace Rebraca Tavon has no problems since his murder conviction four years ago and hunters trying to make things right with his campaign. Why would you say this is newsworthy? It speaks to his personal financial situation. Which could increase the risk he had a motive to use campaign money for personal purposes. We need to roll it up.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, paid back almost $49,000 to his campaign for questionable expenditures using a home equity loan brokered by a man convicted of second-degree murder more than 40 years ago, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Wednesday.
Hunter came under scrutiny for spending campaign funds on groceries, oral surgery, an Italian hotel and other personal uses. Hunter later said the expenditures were unauthorized and that some were due to using the wrong credit card.
Joseph Ignacio Salas Jr., a long-time acquaintance of Hunter's father, brokered a $57,000 loan for Hunter in early November. Salas was convicted of second-degree murder in 1973, but is a fully-licensed broker in good standing with state regulators for the past decade. The loan was paid back earlier this month, after Hunter sold his home for $600,000. Hunter bought the house for $595,000 in 2009, according to the Union-Tribune.
