Ethics Watchdog Calls for Inquiry into Joe Manchin’s Campaign Expenses

The ethics watchdog group the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) on Monday called for the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) use of taxpayer dollars to pay for campaign fundraising travel.

FACT’s ethics complaint arose after a Washington Free Beacon report revealed that one of Manchin’s fundraising trips was partly paid for with taxpayer dollars.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s campaign spokesman, Nathan Brand, said this revelation comes right out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook.

Brand said:

Operating straight out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook, Sen. Joe Manchin believes he plays by a different set of rules. When a career politician like Manchin has been hobnobbing with liberal coastal elites and Washington Democrats for as long as he has, it is clear he isn’t looking out for the men and women of West Virginia:

Manchin’s Los Angeles fundraiser at the Capital Group netted him $99,000 in contributions to his campaign. Manchin’s office told the Free Beacon that the trip to California was partly for campaign work and for fundraising. However, his office did not provide details on what official business the West Virginia Democrat conducted in California and how the costs were split.

FACT’s executive director, Kendra Arnold, said in her complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee, “According to press reports, Manchin’s campaign has repeatedly failed to point to any official business that was conducted in California.”

Kendra added, “Manchin is subsidizing his campaign expenses from the backs of hardworking taxpayers and must be held accountable. Senators facing expensive elections should not be allowed to use taxpayer dollars in order to gain an advantage over their opponents.”

Sen. Manchin’s office did not respond to Breitbart News’s request for comment about the Senate Ethics Committee complaint.

The Ethics Committee did not respond to a request for comment from the Free Beacon or its question asking if it had reviewed Manchin’s California trip.

In an interview with Breitbart News in May, Morrisey, who hopes to defeat Manchin in the 2018 midterm election, called Sen. Manchin “a liberal who’s part of the swamp in Washington.”

The West Virginia Attorney General has also slammed Manchin for opposing President Donald Trump’s promised border wall along America’s southern border. Morrisey said in June that West Virginia needs a senator, unlike Sen. Manchin, who will “stand with President Trump to build a wall.”