Just like the Senate stimulus bill, the more time we examine President Obama’s Cabinet nominees, the more ‘honest mistakes’ are revealed. Congresswoman Solis is having a particularly bad week. Earlier this afternoon, we told you about USA Today’s revelation that Ms. Solis and her husband were experiencing similar tax problems (i.e. not paying them) that got three of President Obama’s other nominees in trouble. That was literally two hours ago. Earlier this week, we told you about her involvement with the group Americans Right to Work (ARW) which may have violated several House rules. Now, a new revelation.
The DC Examiner reports that while Hilda Solis was an active leader of ARW as their Treasurer, they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on political campaign ads, or as ARW describes them, “electioneering communications”. As a Congresswoman, this may have been a direct violation of law under the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. The targets of those ads included: Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), Senator John Sununu (R-NH).
As Treasurer, Congresswoman Solis would have had to have known that her organization was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars running political attack ads against her colleagues. As a side note, Senator Lisa Murkowski sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee whom is responsible for considering her nomination. ‘Honest Mistake’.
