INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana Senate candidate who has railed against out-of-control government spending paid his brother-in-law nearly $170,000 to manage the finances of his congressional campaign. The relative worked as a car salesman and actor but had no experience with political donations.
Marlin Stutzman, a Tea Party-backed Republican facing fellow US Representative Todd Young in Tuesday’s primary, gave his relative an average of $5,000 a month from the campaign account for the nearly three years he served as finance director. That was about $800 a month higher than the salary paid to Gabe Rivera’s successor, who raised about $400,000 more for the campaign in six fewer months.
‘‘I trust him more. I know him,’’ Stutzman said of Rivera, the husband of his wife’s sister, in an interview. ‘‘I’m trying to protect every dollar that comes in from donors. I had no concerns whatsoever about him being my brother-in-law.’’
The congressman and his brother-in-law also are business partners. In 2012, while Rivera was still working for the campaign, he and his wife joined the Stutzmans in opening a bridal shop in Fredericksburg, Va. Financial disclosure reports list Stutzman as the shop’s chairman.
Stutzman said Rivera also did some fundraising for a nonprofit but declined to elaborate.
Rivera joined the campaign before Stutzman first won the congressional seat in 2010 and departed in 2013, eventually returning to his work as an actor in a traveling production billed as ‘‘a New Testament Stage Epic.’’
Stutzman’s defense of the hire came after the AP reported last week that he spent more than $3,000 in donor money on airfare and travel expenses for a California trip his wife described on Facebook as ‘‘a family vacation.’’ The trip represents just a small part of the over $300,000 in flights, vehicle charges, meals and hotel stays Stutzman’s campaign fund has spent since he went to Washington on a pledge to oppose special interests. His campaign has yet to answer questions about a large number of mileage reimbursements he collected or his broader spending habits.
An AP analysis found the money Rivera earned in less than three years has accounted for 57 percent of the congressional campaign’s total staff payroll since the fund was established in 2010. That doesn’t include money the campaign gave to consulting firms.
