A government watchdog accused Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday of violating Senate ethics rules and federal law by announcing his 2016 re-election campaign on government property.
“Senator Reid’s actions appear to make a mockery of both the Senate Ethics Rules and federal law,” said the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust Executive Director Matthew Whitaker in a letter to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. “Although Senator Reid has served in the Senate since 1987, he appears to have blatantly violated these basic and longstanding Senate ethics rules.”
Whitaker, who is a former U.S. attorney, was referring to a Feb. 10 meeting of “dozens of staffers” in which Reid, according to a Politico report, said he plans to seek another term as Nevada’s senior senator.
“Senator Reid did not call the meeting to discuss an important piece of legislation, answer questions from the media about the perilous state of America’s foreign policy or address his recent filibuster of legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security,” Whitaker said.
“The only reported topic was to announce ‘I’m running.’ Even Politico admitted the meeting — attended by more than 50 Senate staffers —was ‘unusual.’ It is, however, much more than unusual. It is contrary to Senate ethics rules,” Whitaker said.
Those rules prohibit the use of “Senate space, equipment, staff time and resources” for assisting a political campaign, Whitaker said, noting that the committee’s website includes in red letters the warning, “No Campaign Activity In Federal Buildings.”
FACT is a Right-leaning nonprofit watchdog.
In addition to an ethics violation, Whitaker claimed that Reid’s meeting was also illegal.
“Federal law prohibits the use of official funds for any us other than that which they were appropriated,” he said. “The Congress has not appropriated money for the day-today operation of the Senate for campaign use.”
“You can’t cover campaign business and then pivot to Senate business,” Whitaker told the Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the FACT complaint Wednesday.
A spokesman for Reid has not responded to a Washington Examiner request for comment.
