July 26, 2006
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL MEMBERS, OFFICERS, AND EMPLOYEES
FROM: Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
s/ Doc
s/ Howard L. Berman, Ranking Minority Member
SUBJECT: Use of Campaign Funds and
Campaign-Funded Resources for Official House Purposes
This concerns amendments to the House Rules that
occurred at the beginning of this Congress permitting the use of funds of a Member’s principal campaign committee to pay
certain congressional office expenses.
The major amendment on the use of campaign funds was to clause 1 of
House Rule 24, which generally prohibits a Member from maintaining an
“unofficial office account” to pay congressional expenses, or accepting any
in-kind support from private sources for the congressional office. These rule changes should eliminate some
inconveniences to Members under the previous rules.
We wish to emphasize that the changes are limited. They address only the source of funding for
certain permissible expenses detailed below.
Members and staff should bear in mind that there have been no changes to the rules that limit the
use of official house resources to official house business, and that therefore generally prohibit the use of official
House resources, including House rooms and offices, for campaign or political
activity. Also unaffected are the
provisions of the Code of Official Conduct barring
the use of campaign funds for personal purposes.[*]
Congressional
Expenses that May Be Paid with Funds of
the Member’s Principal Campaign Committee.
Expenses
of a motor vehicle that is used for official House travel. It is now permissible for a Member to lease
or purchase a motor vehicle with campaign funds and to use that vehicle on an
unlimited basis for travel for both campaign
and official House purposes. Campaign funds may also be used to pay the
expenses incurred in operating the vehicle, such as insurance, maintenance and
repair, registration fees, and any property tax.
However,
when a vehicle that is paid for with campaign funds is used for personal
purposes – i.e., for driving to and
from one’s official or campaign office – it is necessary to reimburse the
Member’s campaign committee in an appropriate amount with personal funds. Members should consult with the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) on how the amount of reimbursement should be
determined. FEC regulations provide that
reimbursement should be made within 30 days of the personal use, and thus it
appears that reimbursement for regular personal use must be made on a monthly
basis.
Expenses
of a cellphone or BlackBerry that is used for official House business. It is now permissible for a Member to acquire
a “handheld communications device” (e.g.,
a cellphone, a BlackBerry, or a combination cellphone/BlackBerry device, and
associated communications services) with campaign funds, and to use the device
on an unlimited basis on both campaign matters and official House matters. Members should contact the House
Administration Committee for information on connecting any handheld
communications device to the House infrastructure.
We
stress that the amendments do not change the general restrictions on
engaging in campaign or political activity in House rooms or offices, or the
rules that generally prohibit using congressional office resources for campaign
or political purposes. In
particular, Members and staff should be aware of the following:
¬
A Member or staff
person may not use a campaign-funded
communications device to download data or information residing in the House infrastructure
(e.g., a correspondence management
service (CMS) database, the global address book, or a Listserv database) and
then use that data or information for campaign purposes;
¬
Even though a
cellphone or BlackBerry is paid for with campaign funds, it may not be used to make or answer campaign-related
calls, or to send or respond to e-mails on campaign matters, while the user is
in a House room or office;
¬
Criminal law (18
U.S.C. § 607) prohibits soliciting campaign contributions in federal rooms and
buildings and, thus, Members and staff
are prohibited from using one of these devices to solicit a campaign
contribution while in the Capitol, a House office building, or a district
office; and
¬
While it is
permissible to use a campaign-funded BlackBerry to send or respond to campaign
or political e-mails when the user is not in a House room or office, the use of one’s office desktop computer
(including one’s “mail.house.gov” e-mail address) to send or receive such
communications continues to be prohibited.
See generally Campaign
Activity booklet, pp. 9-14, 29-37.
Expenses
of official or officially-related travel. A Member may use campaign funds to pay official
or officially-related travel expenses.
This authority should be especially useful for travel that is official
in nature, but the expenses of which may not be payable from official
allowances (including those for a congressional office job applicant, an unpaid
congressional office intern while on official business, and a speaker or guest
at an official House event). It is also
permissible to use campaign funds for travel expenses associated with a proper
officially-connected trip when the sponsor is not able to cover all of the
expenses. However, before using campaign
funds to pay the expenses of a private aircraft, a Member should consult with
the FEC on the timing and proper rate of reimbursement.
Other
congressional expenses. The rules
change does not affect Members’ ability to pay food and beverage expenses at official House events, as permitted under
the Committee’s previously-issued policy.
See Committee Advisory
Memorandum of May 8, 2002. Under the
rules change, Members are now permitted to pay certain other expenses of such an event with campaign funds, such as room
rental and rental of a sound system. It
is also now permissible for a Member to use campaign funds to purchase a gift
for a visiting foreign government official as a mark of courtesy.
Congressional Expenses that May Not Be Paid with Campaign Funds.
Under the rules change, there are
five categories of congressional expenses that may not be paid using campaign funds.
As a general matter, expenses in these categories must be paid with official House funds under regulations issued by
the House Administration Committee.
Three of those categories are generally self-explanatory, while the
other two require further explanation:
· Office space;
· Furniture;
· Equipment
and associated information technology services (except for handheld communications devices);
· Mail or other communications. Use of
campaign funds to pay any expenses of congressional mail is prohibited. While the prohibition against use of campaign
funds clearly applies to payment of the expenses of franked mail, the rules
also prohibit a Member from using campaign funds to pay the expenses of
preparing or sending any non-franked mail from his or her congressional office.
As a general matter, the forms of congressional “communications”
that may not be paid with campaign funds are those set out in the regulations
issued by the House Administration Committee on use of official allowances to
pay for communications (e.g., advertisements
of a town meeting or other House event, the congressional office Web site,
official stationery, and official audio and video recording and materials); and
· Compensation for services. A Member may
not use campaign funds to pay any compensation for the performance of official
duties or for services to his or her congressional office. Thus, for example, a Member may not use
campaign funds to pay an individual to assist the Member in the performance of
his or her official duties, even if the work was performed outside the
congressional office.
Other Cautionary Points.
As Members consider using campaign funds to pay for
certain congressional expenses, there are several additional points they should
bear in mind:
1.
The only campaign funds that
a Member may use to pay for congressional expenses are funds of his or her principal campaign committee – not the funds of a leadership PAC or a
multicandidate committee.
2.
There has been no change in
the rules insofar as they generally prohibit other private organizations or individuals from subsidizing any congressional office or activity, whether on a cash
or an in-kind basis.
3.
Neither a Member nor anyone working on his or her behalf may either
solicit campaign contributions for the payment of congressional expenses or
accept campaign contributions that are in any way earmarked for the payment of such expenses.
4.
While it appears that the use of campaign funds addressed in this
advisory memorandum are permissible under Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA),
Members should nevertheless consult with
the FEC on any questions that arise under FECA, including any questions on
how payment of any congressional expense is to be disclosed on the reports that
a Member’s campaign committee files with the FEC.
*
* *
Any questions on this subject should
be directed to the Committee’s Office of Advice and Education at 5-7103.
[*] The provision of the House Rules barring the use of campaign funds for personal purposes provides that a Member “may not convert campaign funds to personal use in excess of an amount representing reimbursement for legitimate and verifiable campaign expenditures.” House Rule 23, cl. 6(b) (emphasis added). See the Committee’s Campaign Activity booklet (on pp. 50-61) for discussion on the personal use restrictions.