Democratic Reps. Frank Pallone and Mike Doyle are calling for an ethics probe of Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission over their participation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Hill is reporting.
The two congressmen, both members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, made their request in a letter to the Office of Special Counsel on Monday.
Sparking their concerns was the involvement of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Michael O’Rielly and Commissioner Brendan Carr at the February conference.
"At the conference, the National Rifle Association presented Chairman Pai with an award (which he later returned), and Commissioner O’Reilly called for the re-election of the president," they said in their letter.
They noted the Energy and Commerce Committee is charged with the oversight of the FCC and had attempted to get answers from all three regarding the CPAC appearances. And Pallone of New Jersey and Doyle of Pennsylvania asked whether the three FCC members acted appropriately.
"Rather than respond to these serious issues, the chairman and the commissioners had the general counsel write a blank post hoc analysis they treated as an excuse to avoid congressional oversight," they said.
The letter said the Office of Special Counsel already has found O’Rielly did violate the Hatch Act during his appearance at CPAC. The Hill said the law prevents federal officials from promoting political candidates or parties in their official capacities.
O’Reilly has refuted the finding, according to the Washington Examiner.
“In addition to your finding last week that Commissioner Michael O’Rielly did in fact violate the Hatch Act during his appearance at CPAC, the three Republican FCC Commissioners have also refused to cooperate with Congressional oversight into their promotion of and participation in CPAC,” the two congressmen wrote
"These actions raise serious concerns about whether the chairman and commissioners’ may have knowingly violated ethical restrictions," they added. "We hope you will assist us in this investigation."
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