Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has escalated his war of words against the billionaire Koch brothers by publishing an anti-Koch hit piece on his Senate.gov page, despite official rules prohibiting the use of U.S. senators’ .gov websites for political purposes.
The Senate.gov web page belonging to the Nevada Democrat currently features a list of “facts” about the Koch brothers, their limited government views and financial support for candidates that support these views.
“The Kochs want to abolish Social Security,” reads the page. “The Kochs spent $400 million on misleading attack ads in the last election cycle.”
The post contains links to articles supporting the accusations. (RELATED: Liberals protest $100 million donation to hospital because David Koch gave the money)
At least one of Reid’s supposed facts is incorrect, the website admits. The claim that Koch Industries pays no corporate taxes was deemed false and crossed off after it was reported by The Weekly Standard.
The Senate maintains strict rules on what kind of content can be posted on Senate.gov sites–rules that the anti-Koch hit piece at least appears to violate:
The use of Senate Internet Services for personal, promotional, commercial, or partisan political/campaign purposes is prohibited.
It is the responsibility of each Senator, Committee Chairman (on behalf of the committee), Officer of the Senate, or office head to oversee the use of the Internet Services by his or her office and to ensure that the use of the services is consistent with the requirements established by this policy and applicable laws and regulations.
Senators are allowed to directly post content to their pages, while other staffers must first obtain permission from the Committee on Rules and Administration.
The Daily Caller reached out to the committee to determine whether anyone in Reid’s office had cleared the anti-Koch post, and whether the post did indeed violate the rules.
A spokesperson for the committee promised answers to these questions and directed The DC’s inquiry to a committee employee named Phillip Rumsey. Rumsey had not yet responded by the time of publication.
A spokesperson for Koch Companies Public Sector said Reid’s denunciations were “beneath the office he holds.”
“We are ardent supporters of free speech and the First Amendment,” a spokesperson told TheDC. “Unfortunately, it seems Senator Reid and other politicians would like to suppress those rights for people whose ideas differ from theirs.”
Reid has publicly condemned the Kochs more than dozen times so far this year. Many liberals see the wealthy Charles and David Koch as boogeymen who are behind every conservative and libertarian cause they despise. (RELATED: Harry Reid: Koch brothers ‘un-American’)
