A conservative watchdog group that has lodged ethics complaints against congressional Democrats filed one Friday against Senate hopeful Ruben Gallego, claiming he has improperly mixed fundraising and legislative appeals.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust asked the House Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Gallego, D-Ariz., over the matter, which involves a bill seeking to allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to add extreme heat to its list of natural disasters that can trigger relief resources.
The New York Post first reported the complaint.
According to the complaint, FACT contends Gallego’s campaign may have “solicited campaign contributions linked to official action.”
Gallego’s campaign email urged its readers to “support this critical legislation” by clicking a link that takes them to a page where they can add their name in support of his bill and makes a fundraising appeal directly below it, the four-page complaint said.
People are also reading…
That, according to FACT, crossed an ethical line.
“Gallego inextricably intertwines a specific piece of legislation with a solicitation for a campaign donation,” the complaint said. “The ethics rules prohibit this type of link between any action taken in an official capacity and solicitations of campaign contributions. Moreover, this damages public confidence in our elected officials.”
Gallego's bill seeks to allow FEMA to add extreme heat conditions to those eligible for a federal response. The issue would figure to impact heat-scorched Phoenix, but also other parts of the country increasingly battling excessive heat, a problem that kills more people annually than most other weather conditions.
Hannah Goss, a spokesperson for Gallego’s campaign, said the organization’s effort won’t deter Gallego from tending to an actual problem.
“Right now Arizonans are dying because of this extreme heat. Congressman Gallego is focused on the real work of doing something about it,” she said. “Baseless attacks from right-wing, dark money organizations are not going to distract from helping Arizonans during this crisis.”
FACT is a conservative-leaning organization founded in 2014 and reportedly funded exclusively in its early years by DonorsTrust, a nonprofit headed at the time by Matthew Whitaker, who later served as the acting attorney general under former President Donald Trump after the departure of Jeff Sessions and before the confirmation of William Barr.
FACT has made numerous complaints against Democratic members of Congress in recent years. Earlier this year, it accused Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., of improper child-care spending; and it complained of at least four House Democrats it accused of improperly using official TikTok social media accounts for political messages. Among those accused is Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
Gallego is running for the Senate seat held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Since formally entering the race in January, Gallego has aggressively solicited donations and records show his campaign quickly raised $6.9 million, more than half of it from those who have given less than $200.
Sinema has filed preliminary paperwork to seek another six-year term but has not officially said whether she will do so.
She, too, was the target of a complaint earlier this year.
In May, a group seeking to oust Sinema filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission claiming her campaign spending had her “living a lifestyle of luxury financed by her special interest donors.”
A Sinema spokesperson dismissed the complaint as “desperate political attacks” that are “based on lies.”
