Rep Issa committee accused of making 'sham' campaign ad

Watchdog groups are accusing a House committee that investigates wasteful government spending of apparently using taxpayer funds to produce a campaign video attacking President Barack Obama. The video was produced by House Committee on Oversight and Reform, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). The one-minute video criticizes Obama for the cost of state dinners and was posted to the committee’s YouTube channel.

It has made its way through Twitter and conservative blogs over the weekend. “It is so far beyond the pale. I think it is clearly an ethics violation,” said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It is one of the most outrageous abuses of official resources I’ve ever seen.” CREW plans to file a complaint, Sloan said. When asked if taxpayer funds were used to create the video, committee spokesman Seamus Kraft said in an email that “the committee’s video presentation is fully consistent with House rules and did not incur any additional taxpayer expenditures for its production.” According to Paul Ryan, an election law and ethics attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, the video amounts to an “electioneering” campaign ad — it supports or opposes a candidate even though it doesn’t explicitly say vote for or against that candidate. It falls short only in that it wasn’t broadcast on television.