Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) unapologetic criticism of the billionaire Koch brothers is clearly getting to Republicans.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus used an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning to highlight his letter to the Senate Ethics Committee over Reid’s alleged use of taxpayer resources for partisan purposes.
Reid, Priebus said, has used his Senate.gov website and official Twitter account to post unfavorable content about Republicans and the Kochs. Priebus alleged that both actions are in violation of Senate ethics rules.
“Look, Harry Reid brings this stuff on himself and in some ways maybe folks watching think that’s exactly what Harry Reid wants,” Priebus said. “Here’s the problem: Harry Reid is so dirty and so unethical, that some of these things have to happen. You have to put a marker down and say, ‘Wait a second, you are not going to use a taxpayer website and a taxpayer Twitter account to attack Republicans.'”
Reid’s office did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski followed-up the ethics complaint with a memo in which she lambasted Reid.
“There’s little doubt that Harry Reid is abusing his power as Majority Leader and resorting to desperate and deceitful measures to hold on to his position,” Kukowski said in the memo. “And in so doing, he’s showing that he’s not fit to hold the position.”
“From ObamaCare to the economy, Americans have plenty of reasons to vote Democrat Senators out of office this November, but Harry Reid’s abuse of his office gives them another one: firing Harry Reid from his position as Majority Leader.”
Republicans have been up in arms for weeks over Reid’s unrelenting attacks on the Kochs. The criticism has been interpreted by many as a strategy by Reid to cast the conservative benefactors as paragons of GOP policies — or, to put it another way, create a “boogeyman” to motivate Democrats with fear.
If the RNC’s activity on Wednesday is any indication, it appears Republicans have found their own.
