RULES FOR THEE, NOT FOR ME: Dem Majority Whip Congressman James Clyburn Paid THOUSANDS to Family Out of Campaign Funds

FEC filings show James Clyburn, (D-SC) the third ranking House member and Majority Whip, has paid Walter A.C. Reed, the son of his daughter Jennifer Clyburn Reed and son-in-law Walter A. Reed, $21,000 during the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) second fundraising quarter.

Grandson Reed is a salaried employee of Clyburn’s campaign and has been paid a total of $58,500 by the Friends of Jim Clyburn campaign committee since October 2021. The same committee also paid $75.000 to a corporate entity, 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC, controlled by Jennifer Clyburn Reed and Walter A. Reed, for rent.

The grandson refers to himself as Clyburn’s campaign manager on his Twitter account. Some of his tweets included calling for court-packing shortly after the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the filibuster. His grandfather also tweeted similar comments about abolishing the filibuster.

The Daily Caller reported, “Friends of Jim Clyburn additionally paid 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC $7,500 on April 29 for office rent. The Clyburn campaign has paid the LLC, which lists Clyburn’s son-in-law Walter A. Reed as its registered agent $70,000 since March 2020. Tom Steyer’s failed 2020 presidential campaign paid 49 Magnolia Blossom LLC more than $45,000 for office space. Clyburn ultimately endorsed Joe Biden on the eve of the South Carolina primary.

It is not unusual for Congress members to put family members on their campaign payroll, but it does raise ethical eyebrows even if the services provided by the family member are legal. Clyburn has distributed more than $260,000 to family members since 2010 via his committee and is considered to be one of the worst offenders of this practice.

Dan Backer, a campaign finance attorney told the Daily Caller, “There are two considerations. The first is legal. At the end of the day, as long as the family member is providing bona fide services, and that is the fair market value of the services, then it is legal. The other angle is optics and ethics. It looks really shady to do this.”

It is unclear how Clyburn determined the fair market value of his grandson’s work, but no one from his team responded to a request for comment on this detail.

Backer points out that many different industries, paying family members and relatives constitute a conflict of interest and involves paperwork and waivers before any work can take place, something that is ostensibly absent from political settings and campaign climates. “It’s an obvious ethical problem,” Backer added.

It is pretty evident that ethics experts have no lack of work when it comes to investigating Congressional financial impropriety, and Clyburn has added to their workload as it is revealed large sums of money has been paid to his daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and other family members.

The Daily Caller also reported that Jennifer Clyburn Reed currently sits on the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission. Another daughter, Mignon Clyburn is a Washington, D.C. based consultant, has served two terms on the Federal Communications Commission, and a third daughter, Angela Clyburn Hannibal serves as Political Director for the South Carolina Democratic Party.

We appreciate our friends at Patriot Alerts and Daily Caller for their contributions in this article.

Julio Cahn

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