Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in income that was brought in by her husband, Jayson, as a new report from The Washington Post explains. Jayson Boebert apparently brought in this money — including $478,000 last year and $460,000 the year prior — working as a consultant for an energy company, and while in office, Congresswoman Boebert has advocated on behalf of energy industry-tied interests. For instance, in February, the Congresswoman introduced a bill meant “to bar the president from issuing moratoriums on oil and gas leasing and permitting on some federal land,” the Post explains. With these hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unreported energy industry-tied income garnered by her husband, there’s a clear opportunity for conflicts of interest.
According to a filing that Boebert made this week with the House, Jayson earned that money working as a consultant for a company called Terra Energy Productions. Kedric Payne, who serves as senior director of ethics for the Campaign Legal Center and is a former deputy chief counsel in the Office of Congressional Ethics, noted to the Post that an intentional failure to disclose that income as required by federal rules (rather than a mere oversight or misunderstanding) “could be criminal,” with potential consequences including “large fines and possible imprisonment.” The Boebert team’s explanation for the late reporting isn’t immediately clear. Ben Stout, who works as a spokesman for Boebert, didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post, although Stout did tell the Associated Press that “Mr. Boebert has worked in energy production for 18 years and has had Boebert Consulting since 2012.”
The news about this previously unreported vast trove of income emerged in the same week that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) sent a member of Boebert’s team a letter requesting more information about a series of pay-outs by her campaign. The payments, which total over $6,000, are noted on forms from the campaign as personal expenses of the Congresswoman that were mistakenly billed to the campaign account but have since been reimbursed, but the individual behind the letter told Boebert’s campaign treasurer to “inform the Commission of your corrective action immediately in writing and provide photocopies of any refund checks and/or letters reattributing or redesignating the contributions in question.”
