Latest controversy comes as Collins is already under a House Ethics investigation for the misuse of taxpayer dollars
A new report today detailed how GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mike Collins used over $400,000 in taxpayer dollars for TV ads that were “virtually indistinguishable from his campaign ads,” possibly violating Congressional rules.
According to the report, Collins “paid for these ads using funds provided for the operation of his congressional office” and potentially violated the House Communications Standards Manual by including “laudatory” content that is explicitly prohibited.
The $400,000 spent by Collins’ office is over ten-times the amount the average Congressional office spent during the same six-month period, and was funneled to the same firm that currently produces his campaign ads.
This latest controversy comes as Collins remains under investigation by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee for allegedly using taxpayer dollars to illegally pay his staffer’s girlfriend.
In response to the new report, Democratic Party of Georgia Senior Communications Advisor Devon Cruz released the following statement:
“Mike Collins has made it clear that he cannot be trusted with the tax dollars of Georgians and is finding new ways to continue abusing them by the hundreds of thousands. Collins’ major lack of integrity and his willingness to break the rules to benefit himself at the expense of Georgians is exactly why he doesn’t belong anywhere near the United States Senate.”