The self-described “squad” appears to have a problem with following the ethical guidelines of the House of Representatives. While Rep. Rashida Tlaib sticks to just being an outspoken anti-Semite, her colleagues are being battered with credible accusations that they violated campaign finance laws, including accepting illegal gifts.
As RedState reported in March, the Office of Congressional Ethics, which includes members from both parties, unanimously found that there was “substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had violated federal law. That is related to her acceptance of tickets to the Met Gala in 2021 as well as other items, including her “tax the rich” dress that she flaunted while at the event. That investigation remains ongoing, though the chances of Joe Biden’s DOJ bringing charges are essentially zero.
Next up is Rep. Ilhan Omar, who had an affair with one of her campaign vendors that she was also paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to. She then married him, presumably giving her access to all the money she paid him. As campaign finance scams go, you can’t fault that one for a lack of creativity.
Then there’s Rep. Cori Bush, the House’s top race-baiter who has never found an issue that didn’t somehow connect back to left-wing intersectionalism. As an example, she once infamously proclaimed that anti-abortion laws disproportionately harm gay people. How that works has yet to be determined.
Bush was previously accused of misusing campaign funds to pay for “security.” As previously reported, the House member paid her now-husband at least $60,000 for “security services.” The problem? He wasn’t even licensed in Missouri or Washington, D.C., to offer such services. Further, Bush spent over $500,000 total for “security” during just the 2022 election year, a number that doesn’t begin to make sense when you consider Omar only spent $65,000 in the same time period.
That brings me to the latest news. Bush has now been served with an official ethics complaint unrelated to the above corruption. Instead, the complaint revolves around the misuse of government resources.
FACT’s complaint states that Bush “disrupted official House proceedings with outrageous and unprofessional behavior and then campaigned and fundraised off of it.”
On July 31, the outspoken “Squad” member pushed a C-SPAN video from her campaign’s Twitter account showing her on the House floor shouting about “racist bills” as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise spoke.
In the tweet, Bush added that the bills are also “sexist, patriarchal, xenophobic, classist, homophobic, and transphobic.”
The layman’s explanation is that Bush threw a fit on the House floor and then used the government-filmed video of her diatribe to fundraise. That’s a big no-no when it comes to congressional members. A representative or senator can use video of themselves on the House floor to publicize what they said. What they can’t do is use it to raise campaign funds, and Bush specifically posted the video in a plea for donations.
As FACT, the ethics group who filed the complaint, notes, this is a cut-and-dry case. Bush should be punished for her behavior. Will she, though? It’s doubtful, to say the least. The Office of Congressional Ethics has let other clear-cut cases of corruption, including possibly criminal corruption die on the vine. That includes the complaint against Ocasio-Cortez, which was escalated by the members of the ethics board only to never be heard about again.
The message in Washington remains clear. If you are a Democrat, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
