A watchdog group filed an ethics complaint on Monday against several members of Congress including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), accusing the Democratic lawmakers of abusing official resources for political benefit.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed the complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics against Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Sean Casten (D-IL), Greg Casar (D-TX), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ritchie Torres (D-NY). They are all accused of linking official government resources to their campaign accounts, a violation of federal law and House ethics rules regulating the social media activity of Congress.
The lawmakers “have all published numerous social media posts on their campaign accounts either using official government resources or re-posting official government content, including official photographs and video, work product, and official social media posts,” according to a copy of the complaint first shared with The Daily Wire.
FACT said that the violations are serious because they allow politicians to give a sense of official legitimacy to campaign accounts.
“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 various codes governing elected officials’ behavior all purposefully — and wisely — prevent Members from blatantly leveraging their currently held office to either get reelected or to use their position to gain a future position,” the letter said.
The complaint included about 91 pages of evidence documenting the violations of official House rules. One example included Pelosi posting House January 6 footage from her official campaign account.
“This is not an isolated incident. These violations are rampant and obvious, and clearly the OCE’s failure to act has encouraged continued violations. This failure has also incentivized these Members to use House proceedings for political campaigning rather than doing what is in the best interest of the country,” FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold told The Daily Wire.
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“Likewise, it is also clear why these Members are doing this, it’s for a political advantage and one that is paid for by the taxpayers. The OCE has both the authority and a clear responsibility to ensure each ethics violation is dealt with swiftly. Not doing so both permits clear violations to continue and erodes the public’s trust in the OCE itself,” she added.
FACT has filed similar individual complaints against other members of Congress this year, including Frost, Casten, and Rep. Reuben Gallego (R-AZ).