Rep. Gomez appears to have abused official resources for political purposes and violated House rules
Washington, D.C.— April 10, 2023— Today, the non-partisan ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), filed a complaint requesting the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) investigate Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California, to determine whether Gomez's use of his personal Twitter account is in violation of House rules that prohibit abusing official resources for campaign or political purposes.
Federal law states that “appropriations shall be applied only to the objects for which the appropriations were made except as otherwise provided by law.” Ethics rules enforce this law by prohibiting Members from using any official resource for campaign or political purposes. An official resource is anything funded by taxpayers, including a Member’s social media. The rules additionally reiterate that campaign social media accounts cannot contain any official content or resources.
Despite these rules, Rep. Gomez continues to use his political Twitter account for both official and campaign purposes, a blatant violation of House ethics rules.
Rep. Gomez’s Twitter, which describes him as the “Congressman for Los Angeles. PERSONAL ACCT” and links to his campaign website, includes both campaign content (campaign events and interviews) and official content (video filmed in the Capitol and interviews filmed in a House Office Building), which are impermissible uses of official resources for political purposes.
“The Office of Congressional Ethics is responsible for ensuring each Representative fulfills the public trust inherent in the office and that they comply with the House’s ethical standards. Therefore, I urge the Board to immediately investigate whether Representative Gomez used official resources for campaign purposes in violation of the House ethics rules,” said Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT.
A full copy of the complaint can be found here.
FACT is a nonprofit organization promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas. For more on FACT, visit: http://www.factdc.org/
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