Lobbying for Senate Seat Raises Ethics Questions

20 Nov 2008 // Illinois continues to wait for Governor Rod Blagojevich to pick a replacement for President-elect Barack Obama in the Senate. Obama officially resigned his seat on Sunday, but lobbying by his potential successors has been going on for weeks, not all of it discreetly. In several instances, the staff of Democratic congressmen from Illinois used government email accounts to promote their bosses' Senate bids. Those emails are now raising some ethical questions.

The ethics manual for the House of Representatives lays out what are appropriate and inappropriate uses of government computers, phones, office space and emails.

McGEHEE: The rules are clear that you cannot use official resources for campaign or political purposes.

Meredith McGeHee is policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit based in Washington, D.C. She says members of Congress from Illinois could be facing a situation that's not so clear. At least four of them have expressed interest in Obama's Senate seat. There's no election here; it'll be an appointment by one official: Governor Blagojevich. So, can these politicians use office resources to help win the job?

McGEHEE: It's not clear exactly that there is in fact a campaign, since it's only the decision by the governor. And it's also not clear what would one consider a political activity as much of this is just saying about what a member of Congress would like to do in the future.

But McGeHee says the best thing would be to play it safe.

MCGEHEE: I think the question here is, really trying to draw a line. At this point the appearance is probably more important than the specific rules.

Recently, employees of two members of Congress from Illinois have wandered into that gray area. From his government email address, an aide to Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., distributed several messages to reporters related to the vacancy. One included an attachment, a poll, which showed voters in Illinois favor Jackson for the Senate seat, although not overwhelmingly. The congressman's office could not provide a comment in time for this story.

Another Democrat hoping for the Senate seat, Congressman Danny Davis, held a press conference recently, with the stated purpose of allowing his supporters to "REAFFIRM SUPPORT FOR DAVIS TO REPLACE BARACK OBAMA AS U.S. SENATOR."

Davis' chief of staff contacted reporters about the event, in one instance using her government email account.

DAVIS: Well, I'm not sure yet whether this is technically called campaigning, since there's no election.

Congressman Danny Davis.

DAVIS: But even if it's not, it's not a way that I would use the House frank anyway.

Davis says the email was a mistake, that his chief of staff inadvertently used the wrong email account.

DAVIS: Since we generally are not doing any kind of political kind of things in that sense, I've just got to make sure that I pay more attention when we are.

Davis says he's put safeguards in place to prevent this from happening in the future. But that's not necessarily the end of the story.

The House ethics panel could investigate if asked to do so by a member of Congress, or an outside person or group. Salley Collins is the spokesperson for Republicans on the House Administration Committee, which oversees all office functions.

COLLINS: Both of these emails do appear to be political in nature, which would raise the question of impropriety. However, to which extent would have to be determined by the ethics committee and their procedures.

There's bipartisan agreement on this question. In a statement, the spokesperson for Democrats on the House Administration Committee said taxpayer-supporter resources are "specifically and exclusively" for official congressional duties.