U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, thinks gun control and saving lives is funny business. Why else would he post to his Facebook page the above graphic, just minutes after the Senate failed to pass a bipartisan background checks bill?
McConnell, who is facing a tough re-election battle next year, may have broken federal laws in his efforts to dig up dirt on his Democratic opponents.
Via Politicus USA:
In February, during a private meeting at his 2014 reelection campaign headquarters in Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and several campaign aides met to discuss opposition research collected on potential challengers. The discussion centered around actress and activist Ashley Judd, and one could argue the subjects discussed were unethical from a fairness standpoint, but Republican politicians are notorious for unfairly characterizing their political opponents as a matter of course, and campaigns are messy affairs. However, the ethics violation charges are not about what McConnell’s aides said about Judd, but about McConnell illegally using paid congressional staff time or resources for his re-election campaign. According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), McConnell did use “taxpayer-funded resources to pay staffers to dig up dirt on political opponents,†and CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan charged “it isn’t just an ethics violation, it’s a federal crime.†CREW filed an ethics complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether McConnell spent taxpayer dollars to dig up dirt on potential opponents, and a separate complaint with the FBI to investigate McConnell for violating two federal laws.
Image via Facebook
Hat tip: Talking Points Memo
Related:
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Read: President Obama’s Entire Speech On Failure Of Background Checks Bill
List: Did Your Senator Just Vote To Let Criminals Own Guns?
Gun Control: GOP, NRA Kill Bipartisan Background Checks Bill