ICYMI: Cartwright Praise For Donor Lands Him In Troubled Water
The TV ad Matt Cartwright recorded for a top campaign donor “has sparked an ethics controversy,” the Times-Tribune reports.
Right in time for midterms, Cartwright will have to explain why he unethically filmed the ad using his congressional office and potentially illegally gave his max-out campaign donor preferential treatment as a non-constituent.
In case you missed it…
Cartwright Praise For Donor Lands Him In Troubled Water
The Times-Tribune
Borys Krawczeniuk
August 25, 2022
https://archive.ph/M9eEO#selection-3551.26-3551.81
U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright’s recorded praise for a top campaign donor he worked with to help veterans harmed by water contamination has sparked an ethics controversy in the midst of his reelection campaign. Parker Waichman LLP, the law firm of the donor, attorney Jerrold S. Parker, used video clips of Cartwright’s praise, recorded in the congressman’s Washington office, in a commercial.
House ethics rules prohibit House members or their staff from preparing or mailing “communications of a private (or political) nature.”
“In addition, such communications should not carry expressions or symbols that might improperly indicate official sponsorship or endorsement,” the House Ethics Manual says. In an Aug. 9 letter, Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, demanded Parker stop using the video clips because he never authorized their use.
“No permission to use my name or likeness in advertisements soliciting clients for your legal practice was ever granted to you by me or my representatives,” the letter says.
The online news site Axios broke the story first. Apologizing in a letter dated Wednesday, Parker wrote he met with Cartwright on July 26 in Cartwright’s office to celebrate passage of a bill that allowed more Marines to seek federal compensation for suffering from contamination of water at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where they trained. The bill covers the period Aug. 1, 1953, to Dec. 31, 1987. Parker and Cartwright worked on the legislation for seven years.
A colleague captured Cartwright’s moving comments on video, Parker wrote.
“Our marketing team posted the video to our website and used an excerpt in a television commercial,” he wrote. “In retrospect, we see that this was an overreach: you never authorized our use of your comments for advertising. We took it all down as soon as we realized our error.
”In the video, which lasts 2 minutes and 55 seconds, Cartwright spends most of his time talking about the bill, but credits Parker for introducing him to the problem and said he’s happy Parker can “have a hand in bringing these cases to justice.” He said he’s “overjoyed to have been a part of this (effort to pass the bill).
”Firms like Parker’s “really have to roll up their sleeves and take these cases … in front of the court and win them,” he said.
By telephone Thursday, Cartwright said he was shocked Aug. 8 when he learned about the commercial “and astonished that someone would do such a thing.” He denied violating House rules, which he acknowledged are clear about endorsing businesses, something “I remember … from original training in ethics.”
“Absolutely did not. We did not even discuss the use of video for a commercial purpose, let alone grant permission to do it,” he said. Viewing the meeting as a celebration, Cartwright said he saw the video as documenting “a historic accomplishment that I will be proud of for the rest of my life.
”Because of that, “I didn’t object … to the visit being videoed, but I certainly never authorized the recording to be used for commercial purposes,” Cartwright said. “If I had known that video is intended for that kind of use, I would not have allowed it.
”Parker has contributed $29,500 to Cartwright’s campaigns since 2012. Efforts to reach him were unsuccessful. Matt Bruck, the law firm chief operating officer, said it posted the commercial on its website, on YouTube and may have bought advertising in some places where Camp Lejeune veterans are concentrated. He blamed the episode on “an exuberant media buyer.”
“If there was a screw up here, it was our screw up, not his,” Bruck said. Jim Bognet, Cartwright’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 election, rejected Cartwright’s claim of innocence and portrayed it as evidence of corruption.
“It’s inconceivable to think that a solicitation was filmed in a congressional office, (with Cartwright) wearing his congressional pin lauding a firm that makes it a standard practice to go on TV and solicit clients,” Bognet said. “Matt came from that business. Matt’s family is still in that business. They’re plaintiff’s attorneys. Matt knows how TV is used and those testimonials are used to solicit new business. It’s a horrifying mistake of judgment.”