Having video trackers shadow candidates to get campaign dirt has become a common tactic, but the National Republican Congressional Committee went too far if it directed aides to ambush Democrats in House office buildings, experts on congressional ethics said.
Though a GOP spokesman called it “frivolous,” the experts said there was merit to a complaint filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee against the chairman of the NRCC, Rep. Tom Emmer. It could lead to the Minnesota lawmaker facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
“The complaint details conduct that is clearly prohibited by federal law and House ethics rules that bar campaign activity in House buildings,” Bryson B. Morgan, a lawyer who worked as an investigative counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics from 2013 through 2015, told CQ Roll Call in an email. “If the Office of Congressional Ethics determines that NRCC Chairman Rep. Emmer was involved in or knew of this effort, I would expect the matter to be referred by OCE to the Ethics Committee.” Continue reading.