Investigation: Cornyn repeatedly broke ethics rules, used Senate resources to support campaign 24 times

Investigation: Cornyn repeatedly broke ethics rules, used Senate resources to support campaign 24 times

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Cornyn used his official, taxpayer-subsidized Twitter account to promote his reelection campaign at least 24 times since September 2013, a deliberate and repeated violation of clearly-written Senate ethics rules.

A search of the official Senate office's Twitter account (@JohnCornyn) finds Cornyn's taxpayer-funded office shared messages from the campaign account (@TeamCornyn,) photographs promoting Cornyn's re-election campaign and endorsements of Cornyn's re-election at least 24 times between Sept. 23, 2013 and Jan. 10, 2014.

Senate ethics rules strictly prohibit any communications from a senator's official office that directly promote or publicize his political campaign.

The Senate Ethics Manual clearly states "Rules Committee policy on Senate Internet services prohibits any linkage on the Member's official website to his or her (or any) campaign web site.  An senator's official Twitter account is governed by the same rules as his or her official website.

The Senate Ethics Manual also states "Senate employees are free to engage in campaign activities on their own time, as volunteers or for pay, provided they do not do so in congressional offices or *otherwise use official resources*." (Page 140) (Emphasis added) and "It is thus inappropriate to use any official resources to conduct campaign or political activities." (Page 153)

The Congressional Handbook states "Member-controlled content on Social Media Accounts is subject to the same requirements as content on Member websites" and websites "May not include personal (outside of incidental references), political party (except for political party affiliations), *or campaign information*" (Page 26) (Emphasis added)

The materials are being turned over to Senate Ethics Committee investigators.  They are publicly available online at http://www.scribd.com/donnyferguson.

Cornyn has a history of violating ethical rules. Cornyn previously confessed to filing four years of false financial disclosure statements.

"In a series of financial-disclosure amendments that he began filing last July, Cornyn disclosed that he had actually been collecting that $10,132 annual pension as far back as 2006. He had not listed it on his original disclosure reports from 2006 to 2010," National Journal reported on June 17, 2013.

FEC records also show Cornyn had has to correct false information on campaign finance reports at least 121 times.