EXCLUSIVE: Do House Democrat’s Mass Mailings Run Afoul of Law and House Rules?

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., appears to have used tax dollars to communicate with constituents too close to the Nov. 5  election. Both federal law and House ethics rules restrict the use of taxpayer-funded resources to communicate with constituents within 90 days of an election. 

Photos provided to The Daily Signal show boxes of documents marked as “499s,” a Capitol Hill term for mass mailings to fewer than 500 constituents. 

Any mass mailings to 500 or more recipients must be approved by the House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, which also is known as the House Franking Commission. 

The photos show documents in the boxes said: “Rep. Davids’ Final 499 APC Mailer Drop Checklist.” It wasn’t clear what APC stands for in this context.

The documents are dated Sept. 16 and the named staff contact is Eric Stecklow, listed online as a senior communications adviser to Davids. 

Federal law imposes a 90-day ban on a member of the House or Senate spending official funds for any unsolicited mass communication within 90 days of an election in which the lawmaker’s name is on the ballot. 

Further, House Administration Committee regulations prohibit a House member from spending official funds to make any unsolicited mass communication within 90 days of any election in which the member’s name is on the ballot. The regulation defines “unsolicited mass communication” as “any unsolicited communication of substantially identical content to 500 or more persons in a session of Congress.” 

Davids was first elected to represent Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District in the House in 2018, a major year for Democrats that saw the party flip the House of Representatives. 

The Daily Signal reached two spokespersons for Davids—Zac Donley and Riley George—on Friday and Monday. Neither responded to requests for comment. 

Davids, a lawyer, previously was a professional fighter in mixed martial arts. In 2019, the chief of staff to a fellow House freshman Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, publicly attacked Davids for voting to fund border security. 

It’s not clear how or if federal law on congressional mailings close to an election is enforced, but the House Ethics Committee could choose to enforce it, said Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department lawyer who is a senior legal fellow with The Heritage Foundation.

“If she was going to do this mass mailing, it would seem to not only be in violation of ethics rules, but also federal law,” von Spakovsky told The Daily Signal, referring to Davids. 

“This would be up to the U.S. Justice Department [to pursue],” he added. “Given the way that [Attorney General] Merrick Garland has totally politicized the department, the chances of him enforcing the law against a Democrat are nil.”