After saying that the ethics complaint against his taxpayer-funded event had “no merit” Bruce Braley’s campaign has cancelled the offending event.
According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette:
“In the wake of an ethics complaint filed by a Republican activist, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley has dropped plans for a deficit reduction workshop in Cedar Rapids, which is outside of his current congressional district.
“The Waterloo Democrat’s chief of staff said the workshop was being cancelled to avoid the appearance of an ethics violation.[…]
“Although a spokesman for Braley’s Republican challenger, Ben Lange of Independence, last week called on Braley to cancel the workshop, Davis dismissed the allegation then as having ‘no merit.’
“The Lange campaign was pleased by the cancellation, calling it another case of Lange ‘holding Washington politicians like Bruce Braley accountable,’ Lange campaign adviser Cody Brown said.
“‘We remain deeply disturbed by the misrepresentations that originated from his Washington office last Friday,’ Brown said. ‘Iowans are tired of Washington politicians who won’t tell the truth.
“’An apology is entirely appropriate and would go a long way towards resolving this issue for Iowa taxpayers,’ Brown said.”
Cancelling the event and a puppy-dog eyed apology may resolve the issue with some Iowans (not this one), but Braley could still be in Dutch with the House Ethics Committee. It remains to be seen whether the committee will flog him once with a wet noodle or just give him the stink eye.
Cold Hard Cashner 