Delgado hit with ethics complaint

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 A recently-filed ethics complaint alleges U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, has violated House rules regarding the use of congressional funds with a television commercial released earlier this month.

In his complaint, R. Bruce McLean of Kingston claims Delgado used video footage of town halls paid for by official congressional funds in his campaign advertisements that were distributed on television and social media.

The House has rules requiring congressional funds only be used for official purposes, not campaign advancement, but in some instances campaign staff may be permitted to shoot photos and videos at official events. Social media and other promotions for official-side and campaign events are supposed to be strictly distinct.

The complaint was sent to the Times Union by the National Republican Congressional Committee and appears to be drafted by that group, which has been involved in a fierce campaign against Delgado, who represents a swing district, since he announced his support for Democrats’ Presidential impeachment inquiry.

“I’m proud to have held 27 town halls and counting all across our region,” Delgado said. “Each one has been completely open to the public and the press. I made a promise to listen to my constituents, and that means being accessible, transparent and accountable. I’m keeping my promise.  Baseless and frivolous attacks from those who want to silence me will not change that.”

Thousands of citizen complaints are made to the Office of Congressional Ethics against U.S. representatives every year and most do not result in official findings of wrongdoing.

McLean, a Republican from Delgado’s district, made his complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics on Oct. 15.

The Office of Congressional Ethics does not comment on the existence of complaints or investigations, said Omar Ashmawy, staff director and chief counsel for the office.

If a preliminary review by that office finds evidence of wrongdoing, the House Committee on Ethics may make a public statement announcing an investigation. Such an announcement would not come for months.

A 2018 memo from the Committee on Ethics to House members said if a campaign does not have a good picture for something and there are no official photographs that have exhausted their official use, a campaign can take photographs at official events to use in campaign materials.

“If the event is held outside of official House space and is open to other constituents, the campaign may attend just like any other constituent,” the memo stated. “However, the campaign staff must not engage in overt campaign or political activity while at an official event.”

The House Ethics Manual requires that campaign funds are not used at official congressional events, nor official funds used at campaign events.

“They may plan official conferences or town hall meetings that are arranged, promoted, and put on entirely or almost entirely using official allowances,” the manual says. “Alternatively, they may hold town hall meetings as political events, organized and funded by their campaigns.”

All Delgado town halls are paid for by congressional funds, his staff said.

Delaney Marsco, ethics counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, said sending a campaign staffer to film commercial footage at an official town hall probably doesn’t cross the line, if that staffer engaged in no overt campaigning at the event. But cross-promoting an official event using campaign social media platforms could constitute a violation.

Rules that separate congressional and campaign funds and events are intended to limit the advantage of incumbents seeking re-election.

In the New York state legislature, taxpayer funded mailers, photographs and interviews broadcast on public television all promote elected office holders, benefits their challengers do not have. The guidelines for taxpayer funded mailers prompted a New York legal battle, as the Republican-led Senate in 2018 resisted revealing this information. The case was dropped by the new Senate Democratic majority this year.

McLean, the 67-year-old treasurer of the Ulster County Republican Party, hedged on whether the NRCC was involved in drafting his complaint, saying the group was “not particularly” involved and he did some research of his own, while acknowledging the NRCC is in regular contact with the country’s GOP party. Then he declined to answer more questions on the topic. McLean’s name is handwritten on the complaint after the typed phrase “insert name.”

“He’s using taxpayer funded money and his office for campaign purposes,” McLean said. “It’s up to the Office of Congressional Ethics to look into these uses of tax-payer resources… it happens everywhere.”

While few complaints result in official repercussions, they remind members of the importance of following ethics rules, Marsco said.

“Sometimes with ethics, the lines are very blurry, like something like this,” she said. “Even if they don’t amount to an actual punishment or an actual consequence, they’re acting as a deterrent and forcing members to think critically.”