Progressive congressional candidate Julie Oliver has touted her congressional campaign as one that is “100% PAC free,” but now Austin native may have possibly committee unethical or shady, but not illegal, campaign practices.
If you ask her how she feels about receiving campaign donations from a PAC, Julie Oliver will tell you that it’s wrong to take money from a political committee, but it’s perfectly fine to take money from small-dollar donors to pay your family members.
According to campaign finance records, Oliver has paid her sister Marya Kaye, and the out-of-state company she owns $32,443 for design services and direct political mail.
Oliver, who has said that her “people-powered” campaign doesn’t hire expensive consultants, indirectly paid herself when she paid her husband as a consultant, and his political technology company, Civitech, $60,261.
Her campaign spending to benefit her family doesn’t end with her husband’s big payday. Oliver has paid herself rent and paid her daughter, Temple Davies, for babysitting.
Babysitting.
Is Oliver’s husband one of those “people-powered” non-expensive consultants?
But let’s not forget the blatant hypocrisy that has recently been uncovered with Oliver’s run for Congress.
Oliver has accused Rep. Roger Williams (R) of funneling “coronavirus relief money into his own business,” but that is exactly what Oliver did earlier this year.
Back in September, Texas Politics reported that public records showed that Oliver and her husband Matt both benefitted from a PPP loan after their respective employers took in taxpayer stimulus dollars to pay their employees.
"According to public records, Julie Oliver and her husband Matt Oliver benefitted from PPP loans after both of their respective employers received the loans, loans that are specifically given out to help employers pay their employees.
In other words, Oliver and her husband had their salaries paid for by the very same loans she has attacked Williams’ car dealership of receiving to pay its employees.
The non-profit and Independent ProPublica website has compiled a database of those businesses that have received PPP loans and Civitech and Notley Ventures, both of which are listed on Oliver’s congressional financial disclosure forms, are in the database."
The race against Rep. Williams is an uphill challenge for Oliver considering that the mostly rural congressional district is considered very Republican-leaning. This is Oliver’s second run for Congress against Williams. Williams defeated Texas’ “AOC” by 10-percentage points in the 2018 mid-term election.
If turnout is high among Republicans, Williams could win his race by as much as 12-14 percentage points, and rural Texans are completely against Oliver’s “Green New Deal” and her defunding police platforms.
