McMorris donates $1,000 to charity

Rep. Cathy McMorris is donating to charity the money she received from a campaign committee run by a recently convicted congressman.

The Eastern Washington Republican’s office announced Monday afternoon that she will donate $1,000 to the Second Harvest Inland Northwest Food Bank, the same amount she received last year from a political action committee run by former Rep. Randy Duke Cunningham, R-Calif.

Cunningham pleaded guilty last week to taking bribes from defense contractors, and faces up to 10 years in prison. Like many House leaders, Cunningham had a special committee to give campaign money to junior members of Congress and candidates.

Last fall, he gave $1,000 from his American Prosperity PAC to McMorris after she won the GOP primary for Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District seat. She raised more than $1.6 million total in the campaign, and a total of $162,000 from PACs set up by various politicians.

Spokeswoman Jill Strait said McMorris made the decision to donate the Cunningham money to a local charity last Friday in the wake of reports that other Republican House members were making similar donations. The campaign organization for House Democrats had also called for McMorris and other Republicans who received money from Cunningham to return it.

Democrats have also challenged McMorris to return $5,000 she received from former House Majority Leader Tom Delay’s PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority. She has refused at this point, saying there’s no evidence there is anything illegal about the money from DeLay.

“The money from Tom DeLay is a little different,” Strait said Monday. “The trial is ongoing, and he has yet to be convicted.”

McMorris and her staff considered several local charities and settled on the food bank, Strait said. “It’s a local charity that needs some help right now.”