A non-profit watchdog group has filed an official complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, alleging numerous violations by Democrat lawmakers.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) claims that some U.S. representatives are using official government resources for campaign purposes in a clear and easily verifiable violation of ethics rules. Specifically, they are using government images and accounts to promote campaign efforts, the watchdog group alleges.
Congressmen are barred from using any taxpayer-funded resource for non-government purposes, including campaigning.
“Though to some it may seem like a simple thing on the surface, the members choosing to break this law do it for a reason — it advantages them politically,” the complaint states.
FACT’s complaint names several high-ranking lawmakers, including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Cory Bush (D-MO), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
A July 2018 memo from the House Ethics Committee specifically informed members of Congress that campaign social media accounts “may not share, like, retweet, etc., a post from an official social media account.”
FACT says the reasoning behind the restriction is that the use of official accounts can enhance the seeming importance of a message and allow for a wider audience than otherwise may be the case.
The latest complaint follows on the heels of others filed by the watchdog group. In early January, FACT issued a complaint against seven lawmakers for financial ethics violations.
Among the allegations in the earlier complaint are possible violations by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), whose wife is believed to have purchased stock in a pharmaceutical company shortly before the company was awarded a government contract negotiated by Blumenauer.
“Unfortunately, over the past year, there has been a large spike in ethics violations involving Members of Congress and their personal finances,” wrote FACT in the January memo. “This primarily took the form of two types of violations: (1) not disclosing financial interests or (2) instances where personal financial interests intersected with their official duties.”
Despite the alleged violations, the House Ethics Committee has not pursued the complaints against Democrats. Meanwhile, some Republican members have been fined, including Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), who lost his primary in December. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) did not disclose stock trades worth millions within the allowed time frame and was fined $600.
