On Rep. Marsha Blackburn (All In The Family?)

(Photo: AP) Posted 4/15;Click the conversation for more.

UPDATED (4/16): The Tennessean and a fact sheet.


ORIGINAL POST (4/15): According to the Commercial Appeal, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn has some explaining to do about unreported campaign expenditures and donations that date back at least six years.

And if that's not all, the three-term congresswoman's transgressions seemingly involve a number of her own family members who worked on her campaigns.

An excerpt:

It was not Blackburn’s first problem with the commission that regulates campaign spending. In March 2006, her campaign committee paid a $1,500 fine and entered into a negotiated settlement in a dispute with the FEC after an inquiry found it underreported contributions by more than $61,800.

Campaign spokesman Darcy Anderson said that she believes the 2006 underreporting is part of the financial reconciliation acknowledged by Blackburn today.

Her political action committee, WedgePAC, was also cited for making an excessive contribution to her campaign that year. Its treasurer at the time was her son-in-law.

In a conference room in the National Republican Congressional Committee offices, Blackburn released a summary of the amendments her campaign will be making to correct the record. It indicates unreported contributions of $102,044, most from the 2002 campaign; unreported expenditures of $286,278; and “routine accounting errors” of $52,024.

Among the unreported expenditures were $18,821 to Paul and Mary Morgan Ketchel and $3,753 to either her husband Chuck, her son Chad or herself. This newspaper reported in 2006 that her campaign committee and political action committee had reported payments of more than $123,000 to her lobbyist son-in-law’s company for consulting.

Blackburn said her campaign staff, which includes her daughter, discovered the problems in 2005 and reported it to the FEC's Office of General Counsel. But that was three years ago and there's still an issue?

What's the deal with that?

The AP version.