A campaign finance reform organization filed a complaint Thursday against Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, for allegedly failing to properly report about $50,000 in travel expenditures sponsored by private interests.
The complaint from End Citizens United was sent to the Office of Congressional Conduct. The organization said the congresswoman failed to report travel paid for by private interests in 2022, 2023 and last year.
Some travel paid by private interests is acceptable if it is related to official duties and it is approved by the Committee on Ethics.
Kim’s office issued this response:
“Rep. Kim always acts in accordance with House rules and works with counsel to file all necessary disclosures. Any oversight will be promptly corrected.”
End Citizens United pointed to these five trips Kim took:
— A trip from Los Angeles to Israel for the congresswoman and her husband in February 2022 in which she accepted $25,000 from the American Israel Education Foundation;
— A March 2022 trip for Kim from Washington to San Antonio in which she received $1,100 from the Republican Main Street Partnership;
— A December 2023 trip for Kim from Washington to Williamsburg, Virginia in which she received $1,310 from the Gates Global Policy Center;
— A March 2024 trip from Los Angeles to Seoul and Busan in South Korea for Kim and her husband in which she received about $19,000 from the Korea Society and the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress and;
— An April 2024 trip to New York City in Kim she received $1,700 from the Governing Majority Education Fund.
“Between 2022 and 2024, Rep. Kim accepted multiple privately sponsored trips that were valued over the reporting threshold at the time,” End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller said in the complaint. “Yet Rep. Kim did not disclose any of the five trips above on her (personal financial disclosure statements). This is particularly egregious given that each of the letters issued by the Committee on Ethics approving her acceptance of the travel specifically reminded her to disclose these trips.”