Personal Charges Leave FEC Steaming

A California Congressman has come under fire after charges of over $1300 in video games made on the Steam gaming service were added on to his campaign expense report. House Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) had 68 different charges listed on his 2015 campaign finance disclosure under "PERSONAL EXPENSE - TO BE PAID BACK".

www.washingtontimes.com, Photo by: Carolyn Kaster

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) called out Hunter in a letter issued on April 4th inquiring about the personal charges giving Hunter until May 9th to file a response and reimburse the charges or face auditing. Hunter claims that his son used the incorrect card to purchase a game from Steam and the payments that followed were all a result of "unauthorized" charges to the card. His office has reported that the charges will not be paid back until an investigation into the unauthorized charges can be completed.

Hunter has been associated with video games in the past after publishing an editiorial in defense of game developers regarding violence in video games and its effects on behavior in children and teens. The FEC letter also points out that another large personal expense was made by Hunter to Christian Unified Schools in the amount of $1,650.00 and has also yet to be paid.