Indiana’s Republican party has filed a formal ethics complaint against Senator Joe Donnelly.
The complaint accused Donnelly of coordinating with Super PACs and using official taxpayer-funded resources for campaign purposes.
Two months ago, the news service Politico reported that the Senator was engaging in potentially illegal coordination with the PACs.
The state party also accused the Senator of dragging his feet by taking an entire month to meet with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and of having his staff film that meeting so outside entities could use the footage for campaign purposes.
Indiana Republican Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer issued this statement about the filing:
“Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly, in an ethically-challenged act of desperation, directed his official taxpayer-funded staff to film his meeting with Judge Brett Kavanaugh and then to post video, with no audio, on their official YouTube page so his campaign and outside entities could use the footage.”
“Not only has he played political games by dragging his feet and taking an entire month to meet with Judge Kavanaugh, but now Joe Donnelly is playing political games with the meeting itself by using official resources for campaign purposes – a clear ethical breach.”
“Today, I am filing a formal complaint with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Ethics Committee requesting they look into this matter. In the meantime, I am calling on Senator Joe Donnelly to immediately take down the footage and issue a public apology to Hoosiers for using our hard earned tax dollars for such blatant political purposes.”
