Complaint states that Gardner broke Senate rules by using official Senate committee footage in an ad for his reelection campaign
End Citizens United (ECU) filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) for violating the U.S. Senate’s Standing Order on Television and Radio Broadcast of Senate Chamber Proceedings.
The complaint states that Gardner used footage of a 2015 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in a political ad titled “We’ll Get Through This Together” that is paid for by Gardner’s reelection campaign. The night before the ad aired, Gardner teased the ad using his official Twitter account stating, “We will get through this. Together.” The ad is currently running on air.
Click here to read the complaint.
“Senator Gardner should spend less time being President Trump’s ‘yes man’ and more time reading up on ethics rules,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United. “Senator Gardner completely disregarded these ethics rules because he’s facing the toughest election of his career and he’s desperate. We’re calling on Senator Gardner to immediately take down the ad, and the Senate Ethics Committee should investigate and hold him accountable for these violations.”
The Violations:
1. The Senate has a Standing Order governing Television and Radio Broadcast of Senate Chamber Proceedings. Section 6 of the Standing Order states, “The use of any tape duplication of radio or television coverage of the proceedings of the Senate for political campaign purposes is strictly prohibited.” Senator Gardner, by including footage that originated from CSPAN’s television coverage of a Senate committee proceeding in a political campaign advertisement, committed a clear-cut violation of the Standing Order.
2. On the eve of releasing a campaign advertisement already making use of official Senate footage, Senator Gardner appeared to use his official Twitter account to tease the advertisement’s release, tweeting the ad’s title. The Senator’s tweet does not appear to be connected to his official representational duties, which is the only permissible use of the account. Rather, the purpose of the tweet seems to be to reinforce Senator Gardner’s campaign messaging and bolster the soon to-be-released ad. Senator Gardner’s blurring of his official and campaign resources violates federal law and Senate rules and further suggests that he prioritizes his personal political goals over the ethical obligations he owes to his constituents, negatively “reflect[ing] upon the Senate”
In April, ECU named Senator Gardner to its Big Money 20, the group’s top targets to defeat in 2020. ECU’s Big Money 20 campaign is focused on defeating incumbents who are rigging the system for their own benefit and to favor their big money donors. For additional background on Gardner’s record and the Big Money 20, click here.
End Citizens United and Let America Vote (LAV) recently merged to combat the two biggest challenges facing our democracy: Big Money and voter suppression. ECU is dedicated to getting Big Money out of politics and fixing the rigged system in Washington so that the government works for all Americans. LAV is building a grassroots effort to fight back against voter suppression and protect every American’s right to vote. ECU has more than four million members nationwide, including 76,900 in Colorado, and is entirely grassroots-funded with an average donation of just $14.
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