A website that appears to be the online home for a Democratic candidate for Congress urges people to click a “donate” button on the page — but the site is a fake and the donated money goes to the Republican Party.
That’s right, the cash goes to the National Republican Campaign Committee, which is working to defeat the candidate, John Lewis of Montana.
A non-profit watchdog group known as Citizens for Responsiblity and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon, NRCC chairman. The text on the web page is clearly anti-Lewis in tone but CREW said they believe this website and others are an effort by the GOP to engage in campaign activities that are “deliberately fraudulent and misleading.”
Here’s how the leader of CREW, Melanie Sloan, summarized the issue:
“Clearly, a person visiting a website with the URL “johnlewis4congress.com” expects it to support candidate John Lewis, especially if the site features a huge smiling photo of Mr. Lewis and a banner that says, ‘John Lewis for Congress.’
“This site, however, funnels money to Lewis’ opposition, and there are at least 17 other sites like it aimed at tricking voters, all created with Rep. Walden’s approval.
“Apparently, the chairman sees nothing wrong with operating a national party’s campaign committee like an online scam operation. We disagree.
“Not only are the sites deceptive, they’re illegal—and Rep. Walden broke House ethics rules by approving them.”
