Cory Booker’s Marathon Speech Lands Him in Ethical Hot Water

“It is clear that Senator Booker’s Senate floor speech had a campaign purpose,” the watchdog group said in its complaint. “During his speech, he sent a series of emails that campaigned and sought valuable supporter information and campaign contributions based on his Senate floor speech. Immediately after his speech, Booker sent an email that requested donations for his campaign and the DNC if the recipient liked what they saw him do on the Senate floor. There is no more direct of a tie between an official action and campaign solicitation.”

According to the complaint, Booker’s campaign sent six separate messages during and after the speech. One fundraising message, sent twice, stated, “If you were inspired by what you saw today, split a contribution between Cory Booker and the DNC.” Another, sent while he was still speaking, included links to his campaign store. Talk about multitasking – breaking Senate rules while breaking speaking records!

The Senate’s ethics rules explicitly prohibit senators from linking official actions with campaign solicitations. But I guess when you’re a Democrat with presidential ambitions, rules are just suggestions, right?