Dem Rep Blames Racial Discrimination to Explain Alleged Profiting off Campaign Funds

An investigation broadcast on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday night revealed that a loophole in campaign finance laws is being used by members of Congress to enrich themselves and their families. One abuser of this practice, Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), explained that she needed to embrace the tactic because banks would not lend money to a minority.

CBS News reporter Steve Kroft revealed that one way in which members of Congress enrich themselves off of campaign funds is by making personal loans into their campaign coffers and then charging above market interest rates.

Kroft noted that the “worst offender” of abusing this practice was Rep. Napolitano. “She told us that as a woman and a minority, banks wouldn’t lend her money, so she had to withdraw $150,000 from an investment account to lend it to her campaign,” Kroft reported.

“Would you go out and get a loan and not get charged interest?” Napolitano said in defense of her actions.

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Kroft noted that she was charging her campaign 18 percent for her personal loan. “That’s what the mafia gets,” he observed.

“It isn’t like I’ve really profited,” Napolitano told Kroft. “I still live in the same house. I drive a small car. I am not a billionaire, or a millionaire, for that matter.”

When Kroft asked if Napolitano had informed her contributors of this practice, she said that “you don’t go out and publicize that.”

Watch the clip below via CBS:

h/t Breitbart

[Photo via screen grab]

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