Congressional candidate Melissa Vine, former campaign manager fined by Iowa ethics board

The Iowa ethics board on Thursday fined U.S. House candidate Melissa Vine and her former campaign manager $500 each after an investigation found that the campaign made dozens of donations to a political action committee under other people's names.

Lou McDonald, who Vine has since been fired , attempted to make more than 100 contributions using his personal credit card to the Iowa Unity Coalition ahead of its endorsement vote, the investigation found. Vine was aware McDonald was making the contributions.

In a statement to the ethics board through attorneys, both Vine and McDonald denied they knew the contributions violated Iowa campaign finance law, and said they believed they were purchasing "memberships" rather than making contributions.

More: Iowa ethics board opens investigation into Melissa Vine campaign after donation complaint

Zach Goodrich, executive director of the board, said that the intent of the contributions was not relevant to the decision to impose penalties.

The $1,000 total fine — the maximum the ethics board can impose — marks the end of its swift investigation, spurred earlier this month by a complaint from Mitch Henry, chair of the PAC.

"When we discovered that one of our staffers had engaged in behavior that violated our values, we parted ways," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Our campaign remains committed to bringing people together to tackle the challenges we face: from restoring abortion rights to lowering costs to protecting Social Security and Medicare for our seniors."

PAC also requesting criminal investigation

Henry praised the decision but said he believed the matter was not yet resolved.

"We referred the matters to the Polk County Attorney's Office last week, and to the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation earlier this week," he said. "So we'll see what happens in that, on the criminal matter."

Vine is on the ballot for the June 4 primary election, where she will face Lanon Baccam, who the Iowa Unity Coalition endorsed, for the Democratic nomination. The winner will aim to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn in the closely contested Third U.S. House District, which stretches from Clarinda to Ottumwa and north to include Des Moines.

Galen Bacharier covers the Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ethics fine hits U.S. Rep. hopeful Melissa Vine, ex-campaign manager