A federal ethics complaint was filed Tuesday against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Doug Collins alleging the Gainesville congressman’s campaign has used videos of U.S. House floor broadcasts for political ends in violation of congressional rules.
Filed by the Democratic Party of Georgia, the complaint highlights YouTube videos and a recent ad attacking Collins’ chief opponent, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., that show the congressman speaking from the House floor during last year’s presidential impeachment proceedings.
House rules forbid floor footage from being used as material for partisan political campaigns due to the risk that elected leaders may treat Congress as a venue for showmanship rather than to work in the public’s best interests, the complaint notes.
“This is the exact kind of conduct the ethics rules are designed to prevent,” reads the complaint, signed by Georgia Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Hogan.
A spokesman for Collins dismissed the complaint, labeling it an attempt by Loeffler and state Democrats to censor him. His campaign also noted the videos in question contained footage used in television news segments, not from C-SPAN.
“They really, really don’t want Georgians to see the video of Doug demolishing the Left as Trump’s chief defender during impeachment,” said spokesman Dan McLagan.
Several of Collins’ ads on Facebook were the subject of a previous ethics complaint filed by state Rep. David Clark, R-Buford, on grounds that they contained House floor footage.
Georgia Democrats also jabbed at Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman, in a news release Tuesday by drawing attention to controversial stock transactions she made ahead of the country’s COVID-19 outbreak that prompted a federal investigation.
Collins and Loeffler have traded frequent blows over the past several months as the race heads for the Nov. 3 special election.
Most recently, Collins’ campaign lashed out at a new ad released by Loeffler-supporting a political action committee with ties to Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed Loeffler in December to hold the seat of retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson on an interim basis.
On Monday, Loeffler’s campaign criticized Collins for accepting donations from large tech companies amid congressional antitrust scrutiny into firms like Google, Facebook and Amazon.
Collins is set for a roughly weeklong tour at Warner Robbins Air Force Base, where he serves as a reserve chaplain.
The race for Loeffler’s seat has drawn 21 candidates in a free-for-all contest involving candidates from all parties on the same ballot. A runoff will be held in January if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote on Nov. 3.