With his aborted presidential campaign already more than $500,000 in the red, the Rev. Al Sharpton took another hit in the wallet yesterday when the Federal Election Commission ordered him to return $100,000 in public matching funds.
By a 6-0 vote, the FEC – in a highly unusual move – demanded that Sharpton return the only matching-fund payment he received, saying he violated campaign-finance statutes by spending well over the $50,000 legal limit of personal funds on his own campaign.
The FEC said that Sharpton originally filed $47,821 in personal spending – barely lower than the legal limit – but failed to add credit-card purchases that didn’t appear on his statement until after the FEC awarded Sharpton the $100,000.
The ruling comes two weeks after the federal body – citing the same person-spending violation – decertified a second matching-fund payment of $79,000 to Sharpton.
The FEC at that time also suspended giving any further matching funds to the campaign.
Sharpton called the FEC’s move “ridiculous” and said he would challenge it in court.
The FEC’s decision will push Sharpton’s campaign debts over $650,000.