A Rabbit's Airfare Is at the Center of the Fight Over Ethics Watchdog

Congressional Republicans are still scrambling to clear up the mess they made Tuesday, when they proposed and then retreated from reforms that would have substantially weakened the Office of Congressional Ethics. In an effort to prove the office's drastic overreach, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican in California's 50th District who was a part of the effort to reform the office, told a reporter that the OCE came down particularly hard on Hunter for using campaign funds to pay airline expenses for his family rabbit.

Despite some claims to the contrary, a spokesman for the congressman clarified that the rabbit was a family pet, not a campaign "office mascot."

“[The office] has in their report $600 in campaign expenditures for in cabin rabbit transport fees,” Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, said in a story from the Press Enterprise. “Since travel is often done on [airline] miles – which is entirely permissible – the credit card connected to the account was charged several times even when his children were flying.”

If you're thinking $600 is a lot of money for to fly a rabbit, you're right — that covered three trips.

The rabbit's flight was, according to Kasper, covered by the congressman's own air miles plan.

But in total, Hunter has reimbursed his campaign $62,000 and is under review by the Federal Election Commission.

Kasper told Patch that the large repayment was given in an "overabundance of caution." According to Kasper, Hunter discovered questionable expenditures and a "lack of proper support and documentation" in his campaign in February 2016.

The San Diego-Union Tribune reported that the reimbursement covered, in part, "oral surgery, a garage door, video games, resort stays and a jewelry purchase in Italy."

Kasper said that the jewelry purchase in Italy was actually a gift for a wounded warrior — something that would've been permissible to spend campaign funds on — but due to a lack of documentation, Hunter chose to reimburse the costs personally.

One might think that a congressman's consistent failure to keep proper documentation of campaign expenses is a good reason to have an independent ethics body.

But Kasper argued that the OCE needs to be reined in because it's not even clear what jurisdiction it has in a case that the FEC is already investigating.

"There is a need for [the office]. The goal was to create consistency in the process," Kasper said. Right now, in his view, "It’s intended to be a tool for liberal watchdogs or conservative watchdogs to embarrass members of Congress."

The specific complaint about the rabbit expense comes from a report from the OCE. But Kasper argued that this is a frivolous point for the OCE to make, because the congressman has already reimbursed the funds to the campaign and is working to resolve the entire issue with the FEC.

"We are well aware you can’t buy a airline ticket for a rabbit," Kasper said.

Related:

• Calif. Congressman's Video Game Charges Prompt FEC Letter

Photo credit: Erin via Flickr (A different rabbit)