Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson's highly paid spokesman crossed the line when he touted a political poll to a Florida newspaper, a Heritage Foundation fellow charged.
"Most [spokesmen] know they're supposed to draw a line on political activity. When a staffer is handing out materials that are not at all related to the business before the Senate, that's a problem," said Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the conservative Washington think tank.
Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin made news of sorts on Oct. 6 when an Orlando Sentinel blog reported:
"Today, Nelsons ever-helpful uber-flack Dan McLaughlin forwards another [Public Policy Polling] report -- it came out yesterday, but we missed it -- that says junior Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio -- national darling of conservatives -- has remarkably similar (and mediocre) approval ratings [to Nelson's]."
McLaughlin's shopping of PPP's poll on Rubio was clearly political, and outside of official Senate business, von Spakovsky told Sunshine State News.
Von Spakovsky said McLaughlin "should have passed it on to Nelson's separate campaign staff. This is not appropriate work for a communications director getting paid by us, the taxpayers."
McLaughlin, who earned $161,000 last year, is among the highest paid congressional spokesmen on Capitol Hill. The salary range for such positions tops out at $165,000.
Not only does the Senate ethics manual specifically prohibit political activity in a Senate office, but the Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in such activity while on the job.
'They're not supposed to use government computers or government telephones to engage in that kind of activity," said von Spakovsky, who previously worked at the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The PPP poll tipped by McLaughlin showed Rubio's job-approval rating at 44 percent approve, 39 percent disapprove and 17 percent "not sure."
The liberal polling firm listed Nelson's numbers as 40 percent approving and 32 percent disapproving. Despite having served two terms in the Senate, Nelson had a much higher "not sure" rating of 28 percent.
Several Republican contenders have lined up to challenge Nelson, who is up for re-election in 2012. Rubio was elected last year.
In an email statement to Sunshine State News, McLaughlin defended his actions, writing:
"A number of reporters wrote about a public poll question on Sen. Nelsons job approval rating -- his Senate job:'Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Bill Nelsons job performance?'
"I took issue with what I considered to be the editorial nature of one newspapers headline on its story, which said in part, Hardly anyone loves Bill Nelson . To me, thats not an accurate reflection of the poll and its my job to respond to reporters when I read things like that about the senators job performance."
McLaughlin declined further comment on the record and, regarding his salary, added only that, "All congressional salaries are a matter of public record."
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
