Ex-NY Rep. Mondaire Jones received nearly $25K in salary from campaigns: ‘Not a great look’
Former Rep. Mondaire Jones has received almost $25,000 in salary payments from two of his congressional campaigns, according to financial disclosures, a rare move that raised questions about whether he is improperly taking advantage of federal election rules.
The Democrat’s principal campaign committee paid Jones $2,629.31 approximately every two weeks between April 4 and June 4 of this year — adding up to $13,146.55, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.
The payments are marked as “salary” and give Jones’ address as an apartment located in Nyack, whereas earlier records filed with the Westchester County Board of Elections list an apartment across the Hudson River in Sleepy Hollow.
The Jones campaign says that the candidate is not renting two apartments, at least one of which could be covered entirely by the campaign stipend, and that the Nyack address was “being updated.”
“Mondaire grew up in Rockland in Section 8 housing and on food stamps, and like most people he can’t afford to not work,” Jones campaign spokeswoman Shannon Geison told The Post.
“It is critical that our elected representatives share the experiences of everyday working families, and the ability for candidates to receive a salary while they campaign ensures that normal people are able to run for office.”
Lawrence Mandelker, a veteran campaign finance and election lawyer who previously worked for the late New York Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, told The Post that Jones’ donor-funded salary was “not a great look.”
“At best, it opens you up to a political attack. At worst, it opens you up to a legal attack,” Mandelker explained, adding that he would advise candidates against the practice.
“Campaign money is supposed to be for campaign purposes,” Mandelker said. “You’re not allowed to convert campaign money for personal use. It would not be proper. He’d have to justify it.”
Tom Moore, a former FEC attorney who worked on candidate-salary issues, said Mandelker was “incorrect.”
“While Mondaire Jones may face a political price for taking a salary from his campaign funds, he is in the clear legally,” Moore told The Post. “It is not a matter of ‘personal use’; the Federal Election Commission has specific regulations that allow candidates to pay themselves a certain salary.”
This is not the first time Jones has lined his own pockets with campaign funds.
In 2020, Mondaire for Congress paid Jones more than $11,000 in salary, according to House financial disclosures, but the lawmaker didn’t report the money until after he was out of office, in an amended September 2023 filing.
“Rules approved by the Commission in 2023 made several amendments to the Commission’s regulations regarding candidate salaries,” an FEC spokesman told The Post.
“Prior to this, Commission regulations dating back to 2003 have allowed a federal candidate’s campaign committee to pay compensation to the candidate under certain circumstances.”
Those circumstances allow nonincumbents to receive a salary from their principal campaign committee that does “not exceed the lesser of either the minimum annual salary for the federal office sought or what the candidate received as earned income in the previous year.”
The candidates must also submit tax records and proof of earnings.
Geison pointed out the 2020 campaign salary payments were disclosed with the FEC.
The 37-year-old Democrat is running against freshman Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in the Hudson Valley-based 17th Congressional District this November — as key progressive groups that boosted Jones into office in 2020 rejected him for endorsing Westchester County executive George Latimer over “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in the June 25 Democratic primary for the neighboring 16th District.
“Mondaire’s salary is transparent and disclosed, while Mike Lawler continues to route campaign cash to his own company for the second consecutive campaign cycle, and took a taxpayer funded salary to support his run for Congress,” Geison responded Wednesday.
The battle for the 17th is one of three New York House races featuring Republican incumbents that are rated as toss-ups by the non-partisan Cook Political Report.
In the other close races, neither Democrat Laura Gillen, in Long Island’s 4th District, nor Democrat Josh Riley, in the upstate 19th District, have paid themselves from their own campaigns.
Jones opted against running for re-election in the 17th in 2022 after redistricting made the electorate more GOP-friendly, clearing the way for then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney — who narrowly lost to Lawler.
Jones, meanwhile, was defeated in the 10th District primary by Manhattan and Brooklyn Rep. Dan Goldman.
Lawler, now 37, used at least $94,000 in funds from his first congressional campaign to pay a consulting firm he helped found for services including “public relations,” “printing and postage” and “research consulting,” City & State reported in October 2022.
At the time, a Lawler spokesman said that the soon-to-be-elected congressman had told accountants at the firm, Checkmate Strategies, “to firewall him from any profits resulting from his campaign.”
Lawler and Chris Russell, who has worked and continues to work for the GOP congressman’s campaign, cofounded Checkmate in 2018 — but Lawler left the firm following his election in 2022.
Political candidates may lawfully spend money from their campaigns on bona fide expenses incurred by using businesses or companies in which they hold a stake — as long as they pay fair market rate.
“Mondaire Jones got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, greedily paying himself a salary from his own campaign,” Russell said in a statement accusing the Democrat of “subsidizing” his “two luxury apartments” with the funds.
“Last week, Mondaire stabbed his friends in the back and now he’s caught picking his donors’ pockets,” he added, referring to the recent progressive infighting over the Latimer endorsement. “Shameful.”
Jones and Lawler have roughly equal amounts of cash on hand in their 2024 campaigns, with more than $3.6 and $3.3 million, respectively, recorded as of the latest FEC filings.
