FROM ROLL CALL

Members Dining on Politics

By Brody Mullins
Roll Call Staff


May 19, 2003

Though the Capitol is considered a campaign-free zone, Federal Election Commission records indicate that some House lawmakers are using the Members� Dining Room for campaign-related meetings.

In campaign reports filed with the FEC for the 2001-02 election cycle, nearly a dozen Members disclosed that they held meetings in the exclusive dining room to discuss �political,� �campaign� and even �fundraising� matters.

The meetings, which were paid for by the Members� own re-election campaigns, do not appear to violate campaign finance law, which bars Members from raising money in the Capitol.

But the fact that the Members disclosed the political meals on their own fundraising reports shows that at least some lawmakers have no fear of infringing on the spirit of House ethics guidelines.

According to the FEC data compiled by a search on PoliticalMoneyLine.com, Members held more than 150 meetings in the Members� Dining Room to talk about campaign activity or fundraising.

Since then-Vice President Al Gore was chastised for making fundraising calls from his office in the late 1990s, Members of Congress have �made an excellent effort to split their official duty and campaign activity,� said Kent Cooper of PoliticalMoneyLine.com. �But in this situation some Members have reported using a government building for campaign activity.�

House ethics rules on the topic are murky at best. According to guidelines published by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, Members are prohibited from using House rooms and offices �for events that are campaign or political in nature,� such as a campaign strategy meeting or fundraiser.

But the rules are loosely enforced. �The way this stuff is written, as long as you don�t receive or make a solicitation, it is OK,� said Meredith McGehee, a former official at Common Cause. �Can you reward donors? Yes. Could you talk strategy? I think that is a little closer to the line, but I don�t know that it constitutes a clear violation.�

Sounds like DC has the same issues that Wisconsin does regarding politics in the Capitol. I am shocked. Shocked! to find politics being practiced in the Capitol.