Chaffetz attorney calls FEC complaint claims 'false and misleading'

Chaffetz attorney calls FEC complaint claims 'false and misleading'

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SALT LAKE CITY — A lawyer for Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Friday the Utah Republican's primary opponent, Chia-Chi Teng, made "demonstrably false and misleading" claims in a request for a Federal Election Commission investigation.

In an email to Teng, Washington, D.C., attorney Matthew Sanderson refutes what Teng described to the FEC earlier this week as "concerns about poor disclosure and the misappropriation of funds" in Chaffetz's campaign account.

Sanderson called the allegations "groundless" and said it's disappointing that Teng would resort to such tactics.

"Your uninformed and petty attacks on Congressman Chaffetz's character demonstrate that you would fit right in inside Washington, but they also show that you have no business representing the great people of Utah," he concludes.

Collin Pace, campaign manager for Teng, who faces Chaffetz in the June 28 GOP primary after gathering enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, said Sanderson's email "is full of snark and condescension" but fails to offer some details.

"We are glad Mr. Chaffetz is starting to take this matter seriously, but why is he hiding behind a paid campaign attorney?" Pace asked, calling on Chaffetz to release his campaign vehicle logs and calendar, and receipts for undocumented expenses.

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Sanderson said what Teng called "suspicious campaign account activity," more than $3,200 in expenses at the St. Regis Hotel in Deer Valley on Thanksgiving Day 2014, were actually advance deposits for a fundraising event held in February 2015.

Teng submitted an Instagram photo posted by Chaffetz of a turkey cooking in "a small oven similar to the kind St. Regis offers in the hotel's suites" to the FEC, asking what campaign activity was underway at the five-star resort.

"This is an incredibly irresponsible claim," Sanderson wrote, adding that a "little diligence on your part in reviewing the campaign's reports would have made it clear that these reimbursements were for an entirely permissible campaign expense."

The lawyer also refuted Teng's issues with campaign vehicle use and reimbursements for child care, hotel costs and undocumented expenses, saying the campaign's practices have been "thoroughly vetted" by accountants and attorneys.

Pace said the Teng campaign stands by the claims made in the complaint.

"From the very beginning, we've said a lot of these things were red flags," he said. "They're all things we're asking the FEC to look after, and we'll just wait for their opinion."

Sanderson told the Deseret News that the campaign has not been notified by the FEC that a complaint has been filed.

"We'll wait until the FEC hands that to us and we'll evaluate whether that even warrants a response," Sanderson said. "In my mind, this has no chance of going anywhere. … The reason he filed his complaint was to try to get attention."

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Lisa Riley Roche

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