Lawmaker reports campaign spending on strip clubs, bars, Vegas
(The Center Square) – In a campaign finance report filed Monday, Rep. Jewell Jones, D-Inkster, listed questionable campaign expenses including visits to a strip club for a constituent meeting about “potential economic projects,” the Detroit News reported.
The 26-year-old lawmaker reported spending $221 of campaign money at a Dearborn strip club for a March 8 meeting.
About $6,400 was spent at restaurants and lounges in total.
Jones reported $3,548 in expenses at a bar and grill in Inkster reported as meetings with “constituents” and “stakeholders.”
In addition, Jones listed $878 expenses at restaurants in Las Vegas, which he reported as meetings with other legislators. He also reported $371 in bank fees.
Jones hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.
In April, Jones seized national headlines after he was arrested for drunk driving with a loaded weapon and resisting police. Jones flashed a badge when asked for identification and then threatened to call Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and slash police budgets shortly before his arrest, the News reported.
Police pepper-sprayed Jones and used a stun gun on him twice after he was “combative,” police reports say.
Jones, the vice-chair of the military, veterans, and homeland security committee, has twice violated his probation since then. He was fined $1,000. Fox 2 reported a third violation will result in jail time.
Eric Ventimiglia, the executive director for the conservative Michigan Rising Action, called Jewell’s behavior “an embarrassment to his district” as well as the state of Michigan.
“Jones’ use of campaign dollars to fund his lavish lifestyle in Vegas and at strip clubs, in addition to his current legal troubles, is indicative of the current state of Whitmer’s Democratic Party,” Ventimiglia said in a statement.
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