{"id":1511852,"date":"2022-06-12T01:05:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T05:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1511852"},"modified":"2022-06-12T01:05:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T05:05:25","slug":"democrat-rep-slotkin-accused-of-using-taxpayer-funded-resources-for-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-rep-slotkin-accused-of-using-taxpayer-funded-resources-for-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Rep. Slotkin Accused of Using Taxpayer Funded Resources for Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrat-rep-slotkin-accused-of-using-taxpayer-funded-resources-for-campaign%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1511852&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a\u00a0non-partisan ethics watchdog, sent a letter to the\u00a0Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) asking for an\u00a0investigation into Rep.\u00a0Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for allegedly using her\u00a0taxpayer-funded resources for campaign purposes.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0ethics watchdog said that the congresswoman was \u201cusing official taxpayer-funded resources for campaign purposes, making campaign solicitations while in a House office, and a campaign contribution violation\u201d \u2014 a violation of strict Federal laws and House Ethics rules that separate\u00a0campaigns and official duties.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>FACT explained the Federal laws and House Ethics rules that require there to be a strict divide between\u00a0campaign and official acts:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A Member is clearly prohibited from using official resources for campaign or political purposes.\u00a0\u201cOfficial resources\u201d are anything paid for by taxpayer funds, including congressional buildings, office equipment, and staff time. Additionally, federal law specifically prohibits Members from\u00a0participating in\u00a0campaign meetings and soliciting campaign contributions while located in a congressional building.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The complaint explained that\u00a0Slotkin attended a virtual meeting with the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) and her staffer, who introduced himself in an official capacity as Slotkin\u2019s national security adviser, last month on\u00a0May 11.<\/p>\n<p>During the meeting, the complaint explained that Slotkin discussed\u00a0campaign strategy and solicited\u00a0campaign contributions with JDCA, which has a Super PAC and an\u00a0independent expenditure filer with the\u00a0Federal Election Commission (FEC). Both have\u00a0supported the congresswoman in the past.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The watchdog noted that during the meeting, the congresswoman talked about campaign strategy, discussing the specific type of voter turnout she would need to win her reelection campaign.<\/p>\n<div class=\"page\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>\u201cI do not believe I can win unless we have significant turnout from Michigan State students. Full stop,\u201d she said. \u201cIf there\u2019s anything we can do on voter registration and voter turnout\u2014 that is, I think, the only way that I will hang on to this district.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>She also solicited cash campaign contributions and\u00a0an in-kind contribution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, I always love\u201d having\u00a0\u201ctraditional contributions,\u201d Slotkin said. She also asked for\u00a0in-kind donations \u201cin paid voter registration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The congresswoman further suggested \u201cpaying students to register their fellow students,\u201d calling this technique \u201cthe Stacey Abrams model.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The video of this exchange showed Slotkin with her taxpayer-funded congressional staffer, who used his official title when introducing himself. They were seated in what appeared to be her\u00a0congressional office, which is prohibited from being used for political activity and campaign solicitations.<\/p>\n<p>FACT identified a tweet from\u00a0JDCA that also appeared to show Slotkin in her House office with her taxpayer-funded staffer during the meeting:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 Week of Action Spotlight \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for meeting with Jewish Dems, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepSlotkin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RepSlotkin<\/a>. From national security to defending democracy at home, we&#8217;re grateful for your continued leadership and partnership with JDCA as we advocate for our shared values. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8lM8gUG32e\">pic.twitter.com\/8lM8gUG32e<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jewish Dems (@USJewishDems) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USJewishDems\/status\/1524825485359730688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 12, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Additionally, FACT pointed out that\u00a0Slotkin posted a photo the day of the meeting on Twitter, where she appeared to be in the exact same spot in her taxpayer-funded congressional office:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Had the pleasure of sitting down this morning with Maj. Gen. Paul Rogers of the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MINationalGuard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MINationalGuard<\/a> to talk about how Congress can support the men &#038; women of our state\u2019s Guard. 1\/3 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3orjnhJL65\">pic.twitter.com\/3orjnhJL65<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Elissa Slotkin (@RepSlotkin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepSlotkin\/status\/1524500124143079425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 11, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The complaint stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Office of Congressional Ethics is responsible for ensuring each Representative fulfills the public trust inherent in the office and complies with the House\u2019s ethical standards. As the House Ethics Manual sets forth, violations of the laws prohibiting use of official resources for campaign purposes and soliciting campaign contributions while located in congressional buildings are very serious offenses. This case is especially egregious because it implicates the foundational ethics principles that Members cannot use government resources for their political gain. Therefore we urge the Board to immediately investigate Rep. Slotkin for using official resources for campaign purposes, soliciting campaign contributions from Congressional buildings, and for violating federal campaign finance laws.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>FACT\u2019s Executive Director, Kendra Arnold, slammed the congressman in a statement:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The House ethics rules make it clear that using government resources for campaign purposes and soliciting any type of campaign contribution from House buildings are very serious offenses. This is the case because it implicates a foundational principle that Members cannot use government resources for their political gain. The exchange that occurred in this case involved Representative Slotkin plainly discussing her campaign\u00a0and asking for\u00a0what she felt was needed to win her race. After watching this video there is\u00a0simply no scenario where this is related to official House business and not campaign related. Thus, we urge the Board to immediately investigate Rep. Slotkin for using official resources for campaign purposes, soliciting campaign contributions from Congressional buildings, and for violating federal campaign finance laws.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A full copy of the FACT\u2019s complaint against Sloktin can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/65db7681-e755-4cff-abe7-1d9e373df4db.usrfiles.com\/ugd\/65db76_dfa73ac53ecc4f4fa64c9483501d6166.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i>Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at <\/i><a href=\"mailto:jbliss@breitbart.com\"><i>jbliss@breitbart.com<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0or follow him on Twitter\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacobmbliss\"><i>@JacobMBliss<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a\u00a0non-partisan ethics watchdog, sent a letter to the\u00a0Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) asking for an\u00a0investigation into Rep.\u00a0Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for allegedly using<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}