Ethics group calls out ethically suspect pols

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Back to those paragons of virtue… our legislators.

FACT, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, released their annual ethics report – and it ain’t purty. And before you go excoriating just those damn Democrats…  remember that Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Justice apparently blind to the optics of HIS actions, has been found to have accepted another $4.5 mill. All pols are dogs with fleas. How nice.

Ad expected in a campaign year, most of the sinnin’ is related to election campaigns. And the article is from Fox, so Republican campaigners don’t get much mention. Sure are a lot of familiar names, though.

…whether Eugene Vindman and his Virginia House campaign unlawfully solicited and accepted multiple contributions from the
VoteVets PAC in violation of the contribution limits under the Federal Election Campaign Act. During his campaign, a media outlet contacted Vindman’s office for comment on his military experience. Vindman’s campaign manager pointed the media outlet to the political director of VoteVets PAC and stated that all media requests could be directed to him. VoteVets, a “hybrid PAC”, endorsed Vindman, made $10,000 in direct campaign contributions to him during the election cycle, and spent more than $400,000 on advertisements supporting the candidacy of his successful congressional run. VoteVets, in handling Vindman’s campaign communications, appears to have significantly exceeded federal law’s contribution limits.

And then we move west to Wisconsin.

• U.S. Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin: In July, FACT filed a complaint requesting the Federal Election Commission investigate and take appropriate action on Rep. Moore for abusing her leadership PAC to the point that its activities demonstrate it to be a “scam PAC”. Rep. Moore’s leadership PAC, named GWEN PAC, was established to support candidates for public office and is legally required to do so. In the 2024 election cycle GWEN PAC made only $14,500 in 12 contributions to political committees or organizations–just 5% of its overall spending. Thus, 94.8% of GWEN PAC’s spending went toward things other than the law’s required purpose of supporting candidates or causes. GWEN PAC spent almost eight times more on food and travel than it did on its required purpose of supporting candidates. Some examples of their spending were on alcohol, catering, food delivery, restaurants, hotels, and a resort in California’s wine country. GWEN PAC’s spending proves that instead of being the leadership PAC it claims to be, the organization is operating as a scam PAC, or a PAC that raises funds under the guise of supporting candidates when in fact the majority of their spending goes to “operating costs”. Federal candidates may not operate a scam PAC according to the  Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA).

• Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio: In May, FACT urged the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and his campaign knowingly solicited excessive contributions for his 2024 Ohio Senate campaign. Sen. Brown’s campaign committee reported no outstanding debts in connection with his uncontested primary on March 19. After this, however, Sen. Brown continued to actively solicit contributions for this past primary election through a joint fundraising committee—a clear violation of federal law.

And one of our most familiar faces:

• Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York: In April, FACT filed a complaint requesting the Office of Congressional Ethics investigate Rep. Ocasio-Cortez for using official resources for political purposes, including official House floor and committee video, in violation of federal law and House ethics rules. House ethics rules clearly state that Members are forbidden from using official resources for any campaign or political activity, which she did on multiple occasions.  Fox News

Read the article.

Category: 2024 Election, Congress sucks, Crime, None