Margarita Wilkinson, a candidate for Congress in the San Diego area, loaned her campaign $825,000 but has failed to disclose where her money comes from.
gettyA largely self-funded Republican running for Congress in California has missed a deadline to disclose exactly where her money is coming from.
Margarita Wilkinson, the general manager of Univision San Diego, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Aug. 15 to run for the House.
Candidates for the House are required to file personal financial disclosures with the House Clerk’s Office within 30 days of their campaigns receiving or spending $5,000, although they can request one extension of up to 90 days, according to guidelines from the House Committee on Ethics. Wilkinson’s campaign filings show she crossed the $5,000 threshold on Aug. 18. That means her disclosure or a request for an extension should have been filed with the House Clerk’s Office by Sept. 18.
Completed forms are available publicly on the clerk’s website the day after they are filed, if they are submitted electronically, according to a spokesperson for the office. If the form was filed via paper, it can take the clerk’s office up to 30 days to make the document available online.
As of Friday, two months after the filing deadline, neither Wilkinson’s disclosure nor a request for an extension was available on the clerk’s site. Wilkinson and a spokesperson did not respond to inquiries.
The lack of transparency is notable because Wilkinson appears to be fairly rich. She loaned $825,000 to her campaign, accounting for almost all of the $1 million the campaign had accepted by Sept. 30.
Wilkinson is one of four candidates in the Republican primary, aiming for a shot at unseating incumbent Mike Levin (D). Primary voting ends on March 5, 2024.
