NE-02: REP. DON BACON USED TAXPAYER EXPENSE ACCOUNT TO PAY CAMPAIGN CONSULTANT
CONGRESSMAN DON BACON, R-Neb., used his congressional expense account to pay his campaign strategist, a move that may raise ethics concerns over the use of taxpayer funds.
Bacon’s congressional office made two payments this year using government funds totaling $52,518 to “Double Bogey Strategies,” a limited liability company registered in Alexandria, Virginia, and owned by David Watts, the campaign strategist advising Bacon’s reelection effort.
The expense payments to Watts’s company included $20,371 for “printing & reproduction” and $32,147 for “advertisements.” Watts also owns Double Eagle Strategies, a campaign consulting firm retained by Bacon since 2017.
House ethics rules and federal law prohibit the use of congressional government funds on communication advisers and campaign advisers, as well as for any campaign-related purposes. While Watts may have been doing work for the congressional office, using the same consultant for the campaign and the congressional office is unusual.
Congressional advertising, mass email, and unsolicited postal mail funded by the government is allowed under extensive restrictions to prevent lawmakers from spending government funds on explicitly political endeavors. Such communications are generally used to announce town halls and other constituent services.
https://theintercept.com/2020/10/28/don-bacon-nebraska-expense-account-campaign-consultant/
