GOP congressional candidate used campaign cash to attend Trump D.C. rally, Democrats allege in FEC complaint

MADISON - Wisconsin Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission against a Republican congressional candidate alleging he used campaign funds to pay for a trip to Washington D.C. where he attended a rally that preceded the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. 

The complaint filed Monday by Devin Remiker, senior elections director for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, alleges Third Congressional District candidate Derrick Van Orden improperly used leftover money raised by his 2020 congressional campaign against U.S. Rep. Ron Kind to pay for hotel and airfare costs to Washington the week of the Jan. 6 attack.

A spokesman for Van Orden said the complaint was "frivolous" and filed by "a bad faith campaign" but did not answer questions about whether and how Van Orden's trip to Washington in January was campaign-related. 

"Two weeks ago Ron Kind missed votes in Congress so Joe Biden could buy him two scoops of ice cream, and then claimed it was a meeting to talk about vaccination rates to cover it up," he said, referring to Kind voting by proxy while attending a June 28 event in La Crosse with President Joe Biden.

"Anybody who used to think Ron Kind isn't a typical Washington D.C. politician is being shown otherwise on a nearly daily basis. The lies that Ron Kind and his allies continue to push prove exactly what Derrick has said about entrenched politicians like Ron Kind for the last year: they will do and say anything to keep their power."

Money raised by campaigns may be used only for campaign-related travel expenses, according to federal election laws. On Jan. 6, Van Orden's 2020 campaign was over and he had not yet launched his current campaign against Kind. 

"Van Orden was and is free to use his personal bank account to travel around the country for any causes he deems worthy of his time. But, he is prohibited by the (Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971) from using his campaign funds for such personal activity," the complaint says. "His campaign account is not his personal travel slush fund."

In a Jan. 13 opinion column published in the La Crosse Tribune, a newspaper that covers the third district, Van Orden said he traveled to Washington "for meetings and to stand for the integrity of our electoral system as a citizen and at the behest of my neighbors here in Western Wisconsin."

Van Orden said he attended former President Donald Trump's rally that preceded the Capitol attack but left when the riot began.

"Two of my friends, both combat veterans, and I stood on the parapet that lines the perimeter of the grounds and watched what should have been an expression of free speech devolve into one of the most tragic incidents in the history of our nation," Van Orden wrote.

"When it became clear that a protest had become a mob, I left the area as to remain there could be construed as tacitly approving this unlawful conduct. At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building."

A recent report by The Daily Beast alleged Van Orden was closer to the attack than he suggested in the column, citing social media posts showing Van Orden in an area the news outlet characterized as being beyond police barricades. 

When asked in June whether he was in a restricted area at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, as alleged by The Daily Beast, Van Orden said the report was “inaccurate.”

“All this stuff is being rehashed” for nothing other than a “news splash,” he said at an agricultural roundtable news conference June 28 in Onalaska.

The timing of the report was no surprise given that Republicans had just finished their state convention in Wisconsin Dells, he said in June.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin executive director Nellie Sires called Van Orden's actions "disturbing" and "unethical."

“Derrick Van Orden not only lied about his involvement in a deadly attack on our democracy, but he appears to have violated federal law by bankrolling his attendance as he stood on the Capitol grounds during the insurrection on his campaign’s dime,” Sires said.

Rick Barrett of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. 

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.