This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A South Jordan attorney is requesting a congressional ethics probe into Utah Rep. Mia Love's use of her office budget and official website, an attempt to keep the spotlight on some missteps by the Republican freshman.
Craig Janis, a former employee of the Utah Democratic Party, sent the five-page document last Thursday to the Office of Congressional Ethics at the request of Doug Owens campaign. Owens is seeking the 2016 Democratic nomination to challenge Love for a second time.
Janis's letter highlights flights first paid by Love's office budget that she has since promised to repay and information on her official website that by ethics rules should be on her campaign site.
"I feel like it is important, especially when there is a chance to replace her, to highlight some of her failures in office," said Janis, who runs a company creating websites and mobile apps for corporate clients. "In the end, these are not the types of things someone goes to jail for. They are relatively minor problems that she had had but I think they are indicative of the type of attention to detail she has put into her job."
Love campaign strategist Dave Hansen called Janis' complaint "nothing more than a political gimmick by the Owens campaign as there is absolutely no substance to it whatsoever. It is obvious that Doug Owens intends to run a negative-attack campaign, which is not the kind of campaign voters of the 4th District want nor deserve."
Owens and his supporters have previously attempted to fundraise off of these issues, particularly her use of more than $1,100 in official funds to fly to Washington and taxi to the glitzy White House Correspondents Dinner, an event she attended with her husband, who paid his own way.
At the time, Love's staff said the congresswoman had official meetings planned that weekend and had cleared the expenditures with the House Administration and Ethics committees, but later walked back both comments. Love agreed to reimburse the funds.
In a separate incident, Love received a reimbursement for two flights when she only took one because of a late travel change. After reports in The Salt Lake Tribune and The Hill, she said she'd reimburse her official office budget for the second flight.
Janis' letter also points to a link to a TV interview where Love discussed the governor's race in Kentucky, believing it violated rules against campaigning on her official House website. And conversely, he said Love didn't follow the rules when she included a link to her official website on her campaign account.
He wrote that due to this "pattern of Representative Love's conduct," that he wants "an immediate investigation into Love's actions."
If the Office of Congressional Ethics decides to investigate these allegations it may not become public until some time in July, due to the complicated congressional process.
The office may receive as many as 50 filings, like the one put together by Janis, each week. Frivolous complaints are discarded and the five staff attorneys do an initial review on the rest.
Those attorneys bring cases they believe have merit to the office's board, which meets monthly and is comprised of three appointed Democrats and three Republicans, not members of Congress. That board decides whether to launch an actual investigation, and reviews it after 30 days. If the board feels there's some merit to allegations, it can eventually send its finding to the House Ethics Committee, comprised of sitting lawmakers
Only the Ethics Committee can levy punishment, such as an official censure, and it has 60 days to take action. The whole process often takes six months.