{"id":1056435,"date":"2025-10-08T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056435"},"modified":"2025-10-08T14:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:28:01","slug":"icymi-winsome-earle-sears-under-fire-for-receiving-improperly-reported-gifts-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-winsome-earle-sears-under-fire-for-receiving-improperly-reported-gifts-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: Winsome Earle-Sears Under Fire for Receiving Improperly Reported Gifts, Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahead of tomorrow\u2019s Virginia gubernatorial debate, Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has been caught in a corruption scandal this morning following new <a href=\"https:\/\/virginiamercury.com\/2025\/10\/08\/financial-disclosure-gaps-questionable-gifts-cloud-earle-sears-bid-for-governor\/\">bombshell reporting<\/a> that found Earle-Sears has repeatedly failed to disclose gifts and travel benefits \u2013 including a $12,000 payment from a pro-Trump organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point:<\/strong> \u201cThe unreported ALEC travel and the $12,000 gift fit a larger pattern of incomplete or revised disclosures during Earle-Sears\u2019 time as lieutenant governor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Virginia Mercury<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/virginiamercury.com\/2025\/10\/08\/financial-disclosure-gaps-questionable-gifts-cloud-earle-sears-bid-for-governor\/\"><strong>Financial disclosure gaps, questionable gifts cloud Earle-Sears\u2019 bid for governor<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By:<\/em><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><em>Markus Schmidt<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Records show that Earle-Sears, who has served as lieutenant governor since 2022, repeatedly failed to disclose gifts and travel benefits as required under state law, and in several instances amended her filings only after watchdogs or reporters raised questions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u201cThese aren\u2019t minor oversights,\u201d<\/strong> said Alex Keena, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies political ethics and campaign finance. <strong>\u201cTo me, this raises serious concerns about her ability to govern lawfully and ethically and highlights obvious conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>One of the most striking irregularities in Earle-Sears\u2019 filings dates back to June 2021, when she reported receiving a $12,000 \u201cgift\u201d from Black Americans to Reelect the President \u2014 a pro-Trump organization for which she served as national chair. <\/strong>The disclosure appears in her 2021 SOEI filing, but she did not check any box to claim an exemption from Virginia\u2019s $100 gift cap.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At the same time, federal election filings show that the <strong>same group paid Earle-Sears $7,966.12<\/strong> for \u201cevent organizing,\u201d \u201ccopy editing,\u201d and travel between April and December 2019. The payments, disclosed to the Federal Election Commission, included airfare, lodging, meals and consulting services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u201cOn the one hand, the \u2018gifts\u2019 she has received<\/strong>, such as foreign travel paid by lobbyists and donors or direct cash payments received from partisan groups, <strong>provide a window into who she is serving and whose interests she will prioritize in office,\u201d<\/strong> Keena said. <strong>\u201cOn the other hand, a pattern of not disclosing these obvious conflicts of interest is indicative of a disregard of the law and implies she had something to hide.\u201d<\/strong><br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Her 2022, 2023, and 2024 SOEIs each include a section requiring the filer to list \u201cany lodging, transportation, money, or other thing of value\u201d exceeding $100 received in their official capacity. <strong>Each year, Earle-Sears either checked \u201cNo\u201d or reported nothing in that section.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The unreported ALEC travel and the $12,000 gift fit a larger pattern of incomplete or revised disclosures during\u00a0 Earle-Sears\u2019 time as lieutenant governor.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u201cIn Virginia, our ethics system is based on the honor principle \u2014 you disclose what you receive, and the public judges you accordingly,\u201d Keena said. \u201cWhen an elected official repeatedly fails to meet that basic standard, it undermines the foundation of accountability.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahead of tomorrow\u2019s Virginia gubernatorial debate, Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has been caught in a corruption scandal this morning following new bombshell reporting that found Earle-Sears has repeatedly failed to disclose gifts and travel benefits \u2013 including a $12,000 payment from a pro-Trump organization. Key Point: \u201cThe unreported ALEC travel and the $12,000 gift [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ICYMI: Winsome Earle-Sears Under Fire for Receiving Improperly Reported Gifts, Travel - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-winsome-earle-sears-under-fire-for-receiving-improperly-reported-gifts-travel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T18:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T18:28:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-winsome-earle-sears-under-fire-for-receiving-improperly-reported-gifts-travel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-winsome-earle-sears-under-fire-for-receiving-improperly-reported-gifts-travel\/\",\"name\":\"ICYMI: Winsome Earle-Sears Under Fire for Receiving Improperly Reported Gifts, Travel - 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