{"id":2008213,"date":"2023-08-22T14:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/with-church-salary-raphael-warnock-blew-past-senates-outside-income-limit-in-2022\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T14:39:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:39:36","slug":"with-church-salary-raphael-warnock-blew-past-senates-outside-income-limit-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/with-church-salary-raphael-warnock-blew-past-senates-outside-income-limit-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Raphael Warnock exceeded Senate&#8217;s income limit in 2022 with Church Salary."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwith-church-salary-raphael-warnock-blew-past-senates-outside-income-limit-in-2022%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2008213&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>Georgia Democrat claims an accounting loophole that \u2062experts say doesn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congressional-research-service-raises-questions-about-osha-vaccine-mandates-legality\/\" title=\"Congressional Research Service Raises Questions About OSHA Vaccine Mandate\u2019s Legality\">pass legal muster<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<h3>Sen. Raphael Warnock (Getty Images)<\/h3>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Sen. Raphael Warnock\u200d (D., Ga.) used a sketchy accounting loophole to rake in more\u200c than four times the allowable outside income \u2062allowance for senators in 2022, a move experts say doesn\u2019t pass legal muster.<\/p>\n<p>Warnock made $155,000 in \u200b2022 serving as a\u2064 part-time pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, according to his latest <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Warnock-2022-Financial-Disclosure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">financial disclosure<\/a>. That far exceeds the $30,000 outside \u200bincome limit for lawmakers\u200b in the upper\u2064 chamber, but \u200bthe Democratic senator claimed $125,000 of his pastor pay for the year was actually &#8220;deferred compensation&#8221; for services he rendered to the church before he was \u2062sworn into office \u200con Jan. 20, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s \u2064just\u2062 one problem: \u2063The &#8220;deferred compensation&#8221; \u2062arrangement seems entirely fabricated. If \u200dWarnock\u2019s church truly owed \u2062the Democrat $125,000 in unpaid wages earned before he joined the \u2062Senate, he should have reported\u2062 it as an asset in his 2021 \u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Warnock-2021-Financial-Disclosure.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">financial\u200d disclosure<\/a>, experts say. But Warnock made no mention of any such arrangement in his disclosure that\u200d year. Nor is there any reference to\u2062 any &#8220;deferred compensation&#8221; arrangement\u200d for Warnock or any other employee in \u200bEbenezer Baptist Church\u2019s financial\u200c records, according to the church\u2019s audited \u200cfinancial statements for the years ending <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Ebenezer-2020-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020<\/a> \u200cand <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Ebenezer-2021-Audited-Financial-Statements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2021<\/a> obtained by the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To Kendra Arnold, the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, the omission of \u2063any\u200d prior mention of \u2062Warnock\u2019s supposed &#8220;deferred compensation&#8221;\u200b arrangement from Ebenezer Baptist Church is problematic and raises the\u200b question of whether the Democratic lawmaker wrongly characterized the bulk of his church income in 2022 in a\u2064 scheme to evade outside income limitations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If it was inaccurately reported on his filing and the \u2064money was \u200bactually earned after he became a\u200b senator, then the outside earned income limit would apply,&#8221; Arnold told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;In that\u2063 case the legal\u2062 issue that would arise (in addition to exceeding the outside income limit) is\u2062 filing inaccurate or false information on a personal financial disclosure, i.e. wrongly saying it was deferred compensation when it wasn\u2019t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This wouldn\u2019t\u200b be\u2062 the first time\u200d Warnock utilized a \u200dcreative accounting trick to evade the \u2063Senate\u2019s\u200c outside income limitation. \u2063Warnock <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/how-raphael-warnock-dodges-income-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> receiving $120,000 from\u2064 Ebenezer Baptist Church in 2021, $89,000\u2064 of which \u2062he claimed to have come\u2063 in the form of a \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/how-raphael-warnock-dodges-income-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tax-free<\/a> &#8220;parsonage allowance&#8221; that he\u200d used to pay for his $1 million Atlanta home.<\/p>\n<p>Warnock\u2019s \u200clucrative financial ties to\u200b Ebenezer Baptist\u2062 Church were a sticking\u2062 point against \u2063the senator as he\u2064 eked out a narrow victory in his 2022 reelection campaign against Republican Herschel Walker. The church lavished Warnock with his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/with-church-salary-raphael-warnock-blew-past-senates-outside-income-limit-in-2022\/\" title=\"Raphael Warnock exceeded Senate's income limit in 2022 with Church Salary.\">lucrative tax-free housing benefit<\/a> while it\u2063 simultaneously owned a low-income <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/pests-filth-and-killer-elevators-inside-raphael-warnocks-secret-low-income-apartment-building\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pest-infected<\/a> apartment building in downtown\u2064 Atlanta that moved to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/they-treat-me-like-a-piece-of-s-raphael-warnocks-church-pays-for-his-home-its-also-trying-to-evict-the-poor-from-theirs\/\" title=\"\u2018They Treat Me Like a Piece of S\u2014\u2019: Raphael Warnock\u2019s Church Pays for His Home. It\u2019s Also Trying To Evict the Poor From Theirs.\">evict disadvantaged residents<\/a> for trifling \u2062amounts of unpaid\u200d rent. One \u2063resident of the church\u2019s building\u2062 faced eviction for falling behind on rent by just $28.55, the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/raphael-warnocks-church-pays-for-his-home-its-also-trying-to-evict-the-poor-from-theirs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pete \u2062McGinnis, \u2062the communications director for the Functional Government Initiative, said an investigation is \u2063warranted into Warnock\u2019s financial arrangement with Ebenezer Baptist Church.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t know if the newly\u2063 declared \u2018deferred compensation\u2019 was in fact earned\u200b prior to becoming a senator and the \u2064failure of both the\u200d church and Rev. Warnock to disclose it was\u2063 a mistake, but it \u200ccertainly deserves investigation,&#8221; McGinnis told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;Georgia can \u2064hardly handle any more dysfunction these days than it already has.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Warnock\u2019s pastoral pay made up a small\u2063 portion \u2062of the $996,000 the Democratic senator made across all sources in 2022, according to his financial disclosure. Warnock\u2019s Senate salary of $174,000 made up less than one-fifth of his total income. Most of\u200c his income came in the form \u2062of book royalties, which clocked in at $656,000 in 2022, on top of $11,500 in speaking fees. Senators have no income restrictions for \u200dbook royalties, and Warnock donated his speaking fees to \u200dundesignated charities.<\/p>\n<p>Warnock and Ebenezer Baptist Church did not return requests \u2062for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Georgia Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock allegedly exploited a dubious accounting loophole to earn $155,000 in 2022, surpassing the permissible outside income limit for senators. However, experts argue that this maneuver lacks legal validity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":2008214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2008213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2008213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2008214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2008213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2008213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2008213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}