Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Formal Complaint Filed Against King For Congressional Web site Comments

Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Scott Brennan today filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee regarding the political content currently published on U.S. Rep. Steve King’s taxpayer-funded website.

Iowa Independent first reported the presence on the official site of the highly partisan comments about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama several weeks ago.

In the letter, Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Scott Brennan cites specific provisions in the Regulations on the Use of the Congressional Frank, which serves as a communications guidebook for Members of Congress. Brennan states that King is in violation of two specific provisions listed under examples of “unfrankable” items, including:

No specific references to past or future campaigns or elections (are allowed), including election or re-election announcements and schedules of campaign related events.

Comments critical of policy or legislation should not be partisan, politicized or personalized.


Over the weekend, King publicly refused to take down his comments.

“Steve King is violating House ethics rules by promoting his political comments on his taxpayer-funded website,” Brennan said. “King has refused to take responsibility for his abuse of government resources, so I am asking the Ethics Committee to take action.”

“Iowa’s taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for King’s hateful political commentary on the 2008 Presidential election,” Brennan added. “King needs to stop breaking House ethics rules and take down these politically motivated remarks from his taxpayer-funded website.”

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