Money comes with strings, and that is bad news for Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. The Arizona Democrat wants to become a senator but finds herself having to explain why she took political donations from the owners of a website accused of knowingly allowing advertisements offering sex with underage girls.

Sinema took more than $53,000 from Michael Lacey and James Larkin, founders of the classified website formerly known as Backpage.com. The FBI seized control of Backpage in April 2018 because the adult section included advertisements for prostitution and human trafficking, which the website allegedly encouraged.

The founders were arrested and Sinema immediately went into damage control. She tried giving the cash to charities that deal with sexual assault. Some refused, only extending the saga. And she tried explaining.

"I am really sorry that this happened. I have asked my campaign to create better vetting procedures to make sure something like this never happens again," Sinema said in an interview. "We looked through the entire history of my congressional donor history, and it took a little bit of time, because none of the people who made these contributions noted any affiliation with Backpage on their contribution forms or their identifying information. I was not aware these individuals were affiliated with Backpage."

Some accepted the apology. Senate Republicans, unsurprisingly, have not. The NRSC just cut an ad blasting Sinema for taking the money when “no one was looking":





Republicans aren’t going to let this one die anytime soon. But they should be cautious. The #MeToo movement revealed a lot of dirty money floating around. Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., accepted campaign contributions from her disgraced colleague, Rep. Trent Franks. She quickly donated the $16,000 to veterans groups in December 2017 weeks before she announced her bid for Senate.

At the end of the day, taking money from a creep is different from taking money from individuals credibly charged with pimping. The attacks could sink Sinema.