Rep. Hank Johnson’s (D-GA) office removed from the congressman’s website articles about Democrat Jon Ossoff and the special election in Georgia’s Sixth District over the weekend after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution inquired about them.
The inquiry came after a conservative group, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, told the newspaper that it planned to file a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics on Monday over articles on Johnson’s website about Ossoff, who used to work for the congressman as an aide. FACT accused Johnson of violating a House rule that bars members of Congress from using their offices to promote campaign activities.
“Representative Johnson has simply disregarded the rule and is blatantly using his official website for partisan purposes and campaign related activity,” Matthew Whitaker, the executive director of FACT, wrote in the letter, per the Journal-Constitution. “Not only is it troubling that Johnson has breached a basic rule that ensures the public’s confidence that our House Members are working for the citizens and not for their own personal political gain, but he has misused taxpayer funded resources.”
Johnson’s office declined to comment to TPM on the ethics complaint or the articles.
