Record of Ethical Red Flags

DC politician Congressman Doug Collins has a long history of raising ethical red flag after red flag as he’s tried to climb the political ladder to higher office.

From his multiple ethics complaints from members of both parties over improper use of House floor footage in campaign ads to his freewheeling spending of taxpayer money on himself and his political consultant, Collins’ ethical track record is full of examples of him putting himself first — not Georgians.

ETHICS COMPLAINTS — FROM BOTH PARTIES: Collins’ improper use of House floor footage for his campaign ads has resulted in ethics complaints from both parties — even as Collins himself continues his inappropriate use of this footage for political purposes.

PAYING HIS CONSULTANT’S FIRM TAXPAYER DOLLARS: Collins has funneled over $363,000 in official office funding to a firm run by his longtime political consultant since arriving in Washington. Collins  made the payments to a separate subsidiary that shares the same address and listed official as the campaign consulting firm that ran mailings for Collins’ House campaigns.

COPYING OFF HIS CONGRESSIONAL WEBSITE FOR HIS SENATE CAMPAIGN: Collins committed a major “ethics no-no” when he launched his campaign and “directly copied” language from his official congressional website on the issue of reproductive choice — “a crucial part of his Senate campaign” — for his campaign’s website as well. Collins’ plagiarism from a  taxpayer-funded website set up a “seemingly a violation of House Ethics rules.”

JETTING AROUND THE WORLD ON TAXPAYER DIME: While Collins has been content to bash his opponent Senator Kelly Loeffler over her personal (and secretive) private jet, he’s no stranger to luxury travel himself. Collins has taken at least $15,000 in taxpayer-funded travel expenses in Congress, and appeared to benefit from taxpayer funding spent on overseas accommodations for his delegations, including luxury hotels in Italy and Slovakia. Collins and his staff have also taken over $50,000 worth of special interest-funded travel during his time in Congress, including to Laguna Beach and Las Vegas.