Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., has asked the Federal Election Commission to allow her to use campaign funds to make security improvements to her home after she was the target of a January assassination attempt.
Giffords was shot in the head at a "Congress On Your Corner" event in Tucson on January 8, and has continued to undergo rehabilitation after she was seriously wounded. She made her first appearance in the House during the debt ceiling vote earlier this month, met with tears and cheers by her colleagues.
Giffords was shot in the head at a "Congress On Your Corner" event in Tucson on January 8, and has continued to undergo rehabilitation after she was seriously wounded. She made her first appearance in the House during the debt ceiling vote earlier this month, met with tears and cheers by her colleagues.
In an August 17 letter to the FEC, her campaign chairman Michael McNulty asks for an expedited advisory opinion so that the recovering congresswoman can make security improvements as recommended by the Capitol Police to her Houston home where she is undergoing treatment at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, have a home there as well as in Arizona.
The Capitol Police "made several recommendations to increase the security of the home that are specific to the identified needs of Rep. Giffords' security, and include improved exterior lighting, improving locks in the home, and the installation of a duress alarm button," McNulty writes. "The estimated cost of the recommendations is $2,200. These improvements are not intended to increase the value of the property. Since the attack on Rep. Giffords occurred at a congressional activity, I am inquiring whether the costs of these safety measures may be covered by Rep. Giffords' campaign funds." Giffords has not indicated whether she will run for reelection in 2012, but her colleagues have been helping her replenish her campaign fund nonetheless, holding several fundraisers on her behalf. In the second fundraising quarter that ended in June, Giffords raised over $325,000 and still has $787,000 cash on hand.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2011/08/giffords-asks-fec-to-use-campaign-funds-for-security-19
The Capitol Police "made several recommendations to increase the security of the home that are specific to the identified needs of Rep. Giffords' security, and include improved exterior lighting, improving locks in the home, and the installation of a duress alarm button," McNulty writes. "The estimated cost of the recommendations is $2,200. These improvements are not intended to increase the value of the property. Since the attack on Rep. Giffords occurred at a congressional activity, I am inquiring whether the costs of these safety measures may be covered by Rep. Giffords' campaign funds." Giffords has not indicated whether she will run for reelection in 2012, but her colleagues have been helping her replenish her campaign fund nonetheless, holding several fundraisers on her behalf. In the second fundraising quarter that ended in June, Giffords raised over $325,000 and still has $787,000 cash on hand.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2011/08/giffords-asks-fec-to-use-campaign-funds-for-security-19