Daniels fights campaign finance allegations

Kimberly Daniels

State Rep. Kimberly Daniels, D-Jacksonville, is challenging allegations by the Florida Elections Commission that she violated state law in 2014 by using campaign funds for personal expenses.

Daniels' challenge was sent Tuesday to the state Division of Administrative Hearings, where an administrative law judge is expected to hold a hearing.

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The elections commission on Feb. 28 issued what is known as an “order of probable cause” that Daniels misused funds raised for a Jacksonville City Council campaign and then filed a false report.

In a request for an administrative hearing, Daniels' attorney wrote that the lawmaker “disputes that she knowingly and intentionally used funds on deposit in her campaign account to defray her normal living expenses.”

Similarly, Daniels “disputes that she falsely reported or deliberately failed to include any information required by (a chapter of state law) when she filed reports.”

The order of probable cause does not provide detailed information about the allegations.

But The Florida Times-Union reported in March that Daniels was accused of using campaign money to buy a magazine advertisement for a book she wrote.

Daniels was elected to the state House in 2016 after losing a re-election bid in 2015 to the Jacksonville City Council.

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