ST. LOUIS 鈥 Journalist-turned-U.S. House candidate Ray Hartmann is drawing an approximate $5,500-a-month salary from campaign funds, finance reports show.
Hartmann, the Democratic challenger to 2nd District Republican Rep. Ann Wagner, said Monday he鈥檚 following Federal Election Commission rules allowing non-incumbent candidates to get paychecks from their campaign committees.
The commission began allowing the practice in 2002 to make it easier for candidates for Congress, but not incumbents, to run for office.
Hartmann said he stopped working as a journalist when he announced his candidacy in March because he felt ethically bound to do so.
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鈥淚鈥檓 not in a position to live, or is my family, on zero income,鈥 Hartmann said in an interview.
Hartmann鈥檚 campaign pay has drawn criticism from the Wagner campaign. A spokesman, Arthur Bryant, contended that it shows Hartmann isn鈥檛 a serious candidate.
鈥淗e is just bilking his donors and paying himself a salary instead of doing the hard work necessary to win,鈥 Bryant said Monday in a text message.
Among Hartmann鈥檚 higher-profile journalistic roles was as a panelist on 鈥淒onnybrook,鈥 a public affairs discussion show on KETC (Channel 9). He also said he got income previously from writing, appearing on radio and working as a publishing consultant.
Earlier in his career, Hartmann owned and wrote for the weekly Riverfront Times newspaper and St. 亚洲无码 magazine.
Hartmann鈥檚 campaign committee, in reports filed through July with the FEC, reported paying Hartmann $2,564 about every two weeks from April 8 through July 11, with the total exceeding $20,500.
Similar payments have continued, he said, and will do so through the end of the campaign, Hartmann said. Some will be listed on new campaign committee reports due this week, he said.
FEC rules allow non-incumbents to be paid by their campaigns as much as half of the annual House salary of $174,000 or the average annual income the candidate earned during the five previous years, whichever is less.
Hartmann鈥檚 committee, on his July 25 FEC report, listed raising more than $241,000 and spending more than $92,000 overall on his campaign. The Wagner campaign in July reported raising more than $3 million and spending about $1.5 million.
Wagner, of Town and Country, is running for her seventh term in the GOP-leaning 2nd District, which includes parts of west and south St. 亚洲无码 County, parts of St. Charles and Warren counties and all of Franklin County.
Hartmann said he moved his residence this year to St. Charles County from Richmond Heights.
Campaign-fund pay for a congressional candidate also was an issue locally in 2020, when then-Democratic Rep. Lacy Clay of the 1st District criticized opponent Cori Bush for paying herself $22,125 in salary. Bush defeated Clay in the Democratic primary that year and went on to win election in November.