Lawmakers Tap Taxpayer Expense Accounts to Run Reelection Ads

Democrats and Republicans alike brazenly ignore ethics rules to use government money for ads clearly designed to influence voters.

Over the last few months, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have aired millions of dollars of advertisements to convince voters to reelect them.

In many cases, these electioneering efforts are funded not by campaign donors or Super PACs but by you—the American taxpayer. 

A review of congressional spending accounts, typically reserved for district travel, staff payroll, and other incidental expenses, shows dozens of lawmakers using public funds for advertisements that appear identical to those designed to influence voters ahead of this fall's election. 

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-NY, who represents a swing seat on Long Island, recently aired such an ad. “Tom worked across party lines to convince the president to issue a tougher executive order to secure the border," the narrator exclaims, set to soaring music and stately images of Suozzi. 

Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., who serves the Norfolk region, is also in a swing seat. Her office aired a highly produced ad, showing her touting her record on veterans and military issues in an aircraft hanger.

They are far from alone. In a brazen breach of ethics rules, lawmakers from both parties are tapping government funds to run ads that look much like campaign videos.

I’ve identified similar television and online video advertisements funded by taxpayers and aired in recent months from Reps. Brandon Williams, R-NY; Shri Thanedar, D-Mich.; David Valadao, R-Calif.; Wesley Hunt, R-Tex.; Susie Lee, D-Nev.; Anthony D'Esposito, R-NY; Angie Craig, D-Minn.; Sharice Davids, D-Kansas; and Julie Letlow, R-La. I downloaded and created a compilation of the ads below:

Lawmakers often produce these ads by steering taxpayer money to campaign consultants. The Suozzi government-funded ad was created by SKDKnickerbocker, the Democratic consulting firm also serving as Suozzi’s paid campaign advisor. The Kiggans ad was produced by the Hereford Agency, a GOP firm that produces TV ads for many congressional Republicans. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., also pays SKDKnickerbocker via her government expensive account for constituent communications and mailers, disclosures show.

Several Republican lawmakers, including Williams and Letlow, have steered taxpayer funds to the Main Street Media Group this year, an advertising firm that largely serves Republican clients.

Some of the spending efforts are significant. Thanedar spent $476,087 of government money over three months this year on billboards plastered with his face and on other self-promotional ads in his district. That amount is more than triple his spending on personnel and staff salaries over the same period. Thanedar bizarrely appears to have personally paid for most of the ads and used his government account to reimburse himself. A mock-up of one of the billboards is below:

The taxpayer-funded blitz is funded by the “Members’ Representational Allowance,” an expense account strictly reserved for official duties as members of Congress.

House ethics rules bar official communications for political purposes, including campaign content, campaign endorsements, or other electioneering content. However, lawmakers of both parties have increasingly exploited so-called “franking privileges,” which provide limited resources for lawmakers to communicate with constituents, typically about disaster aid or to alert them about town halls, job fairs, and other routine events.