Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) paid a caregiver for his services with personal funds, not campaign money, in an arrangement that was approved by the Senate Ethics Committee, contradicting reports that have raised questions about the nature of the agreement, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
John Sassaman, the ethics committee’s chief counsel and staff director, said in a September 2013 letter to Kirk that, "there appears to be no Senate Rule that would prohibit the type of employment arrangement proposed by Senator Kirk and Kirk for Senate."
Kirk, who suffered a severe stroke in 2012 and has since needed aid, intended to "use personal funds to hire an individual to serve on a part-time basis as a live-in domestic service employee to provide limited assistance as a caregiver," according to the letter.
The caregiver would spend a couple hours with Kirk each morning and evening to help with preparing meals and other basic tasks, and would stay overnight in case the senator needed assistance, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The information obtained by the Free Beacon contradicts a Chicago Tribune report this week alleging that the situation "raises questions about whether Kirk used political donations to pay for personal expenses," a charge Kirk’s office has vigorously denied.
The senator’s campaign, Kirk for Senate, additionally planned to hire the caregiver as a "full-time employee, working a standard 40-hour work week" with an annual salary of about $40,000 in campaign funds, according to the letter.
The ethics committee signed off on this expenditure, writing that, "the arrangement described in your correspondence would be permissible."
Kirk personally paid his caregiver, Mervyn Fombe-Abiko, $29,177.50 for his services between September 2013 and January 2015, according to records viewed by the Free Beacon.
Records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) also indicate that Kirk’s Senate campaign separately paid Fombe-Abiko more than $30,000 in campaign funds from August 2013 through September 2014.
The Tribune report said that federal campaign laws prohibit using campaign funds for expenses that exist regardless of whether a candidate is running for or holding office.
However, Kevin Artl, Kirk’s campaign manager, disputed the Tribune’s report, noting that Fombe-Abiko was subject to a "dual employment arrangement, approved by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, that allowed Senator Kirk to pay for his caregiver with his own personal funds while paying for his campaign work with campaign funds."
"Why this fact was omitted from the [Tribune] story is unclear, but what is certain is that Senator Kirk did everything by the book in a clear and transparent manner," Artl added. "While this smear campaign against Senator Kirk is clearly false, it is even more unfortunate that it was ever allowed to go to print."
Michael Toner, a former FEC chairman, said the employment arrangement Kirk used was permissible.
"The bottom line is that a campaign cannot pay for any expenses that constitute a prohibited personal use," Toner said.
"By separating an employee's responsibilities into two separate positions, and having Senator Kirk and Kirk for Senate separately pay an employee for the work that he performs for each position, he has simplified the allocation process and eliminated personal use concerns," he added.
Rob Walker, a former chief counsel for the Senate and House Ethics Committees, said the type of dual arrangement used by Kirk for his caregiver has been approved in past situations.
"There is ample precedent for allocating mixed purpose costs between a federal campaign and a federal candidate/officeholder," Walker said. "The Senate Committee on Ethics approved the dual employment arrangement for Senator Kirk and the Kirk campaign as fully permissible under the Senate Code of Conduct."
Fombe-Abiko, who no longer works for Kirk, has been under criminal investigation for felony credit card fraud and obtaining goods under false pretenses. The senator has not been implicated in the investigation.
The Tribune article noted that Kirk was sued last year for not fully paying the rent on his Washington, D.C., apartment, a case that was dropped the following month when the rent was paid.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.), Kirk’s opponent in next year’s Senate race, has also had housing troubles. She improperly claimed two homeowner exemptions at once for several years, the Daily Herald reported in 2012, and was forced to pay more than $2,000 in taxes to correct the error.