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A new ethics complaint filed against Rep. Andy Ogles accuses the Tennessee Republican of House rule violations that may rise to the level of ousted New York congressman George Santos.
The complaint, which was filed by the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan voting rights advocacy group, says:
The expulsion of Representative George Santos for filing false financial disclosure statements and other ethics violations demonstrates why investigations of significant discrepancies in a candidate’s financial reporting are warranted. Unexplained inconsistencies in Rep. Ogles’ reported finances and allegations of him misrepresenting his background raise fundamental questions for voters about the transparency of their elected representative.
Ogles doesn’t appear to have made any public statements about the complaint, and his staff hasn’t responded to my request for comment. (Fingers crossed, though.)
The Tennessee representative has been one of the most rabid Republicans looking to target President Joe Biden over trumped-up (pun intended) claims of corruption — in June, he introduced articles of impeachment against Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And the Biden impeachment articles accused the president of “violating a personal commitment to transparency,” claiming he had failed to comply with congressional document requests related to the GOP’s baseless corruption claims.
But the ethics complaint says Ogles has his own transparency problems to worry about.
The complaint alleges that Ogles has not complied with federal requirements that he disclose how he made a $320,000 loan to his political campaign in 2022 and that he also failed to disclose a $700,000 line of credit from a bank. Santos is facing a federal indictment that involves, among other things, alleged nonexistent loans to his campaign. (Santos has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges.)
The ethics complaint also notes that, much like Santos, Ogles has been accused of exaggerating his résumé:
Rep. Ogles has allegedly misrepresented his professional history by repeatedly claiming, in various instances, to be an “economist” who formerly worked in “law enforcement” and “worked in international sex crimes” or “human trafficking” when he lacks meaningful career or educational background in any of these fields.
NewsChannel 5 in Nashville dug into Ogles’ background, finding no evidence that he had received formal training as an economist — and also found that he merely had been a volunteer reserve deputy at a local sheriff’s office for a couple of years before being let go.
The Campaign Legal Center concluded its complaint by saying “the similarities between Rep. Ogles and Rep. Santos should not be ignored,” adding: “Although Rep. Ogles has not been charged with criminal activity, he has attracted public attention similar to Rep. Santos due to his false statements on his background and other matters.”
At minimum, it seems like Ogles should get this whole ethics thing cleared up if he’s going to partake in a fact-free ethics crusade against the president.