Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has once again been caught violating House ethics rules, this time by paying tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to a former Trump aide who had been ousted from the administration for palling around with white supremacists.
Back in April 2019, Gaetz hired Darren Beattie as a speechwriting consultant after he had been fired from his White House job for appearing at a convention for racists. Gaetz went on to pay Beattie $28,000, a tab picked up by taxpayers and funneled through an LLC registered in a tiny Wyoming town by an unidentified person.
If that sounds shady, that’s because it is — since House ethics rules forbid lawmakers from retaining outside speechwriters using taxpayer dollars.
Of course, Gaetz’s office denied violating the rules despite admitting to the shady activity.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
“Although the contractual arrangement was approved by the necessary House authorities, a second review by the Finance Office determined that the services could not be contracted for in exactly that fashion, and our office is currently working through the best way to proceed with both Finance and the House Ethics Committee,” Gaetz’s chief of staff Jillian Lane Wyant claimed in a statement obtained by Politico.
“The funds were all immediately returned to the House as soon as the review determined this was not the right way to structure this,” Wyant continued. “This is nothing more than a glorified clerical error – and while it is baffling that Politico should find this newsworthy – it is disappointing Politico plots to demean individuals who’ve made an innocent clerical mistake and are working to correct it.”
Gaetz certainly makes a lot of these “clerical errors.” After all, he was recently investigated for another possible violation over a rental deal he made with a longtime friend and campaign donor in Florida at taxpayer expense.
And then there’s this, according to Politico:
In another possible violation, a private company installed a television studio in his father’s home in Niceville, Fla., which Gaetz uses when he appears on television. Taxpayers foot the bill to rent the television camera, and the private company that built the studio — which Gaetz refuses to identify — takes a fee each time he appears on air, his office said. It’s unclear how much it cost the private company to construct the studio.”
How much taxpayer money does Gaetz get to steal before he is officially punished for violating House ethics rules? It certainly sounds like the House Ethics Committee has dropped the ball here several times, and Gaetz just keeps on breaking the rules. What’s the point of having ethics rules if lawmakers are just going to be allowed to get away with violating them?
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
Like what you see here? Join the discussion on Facebook over at Americans For Sanity!
