BREAKING: First steps taken toward Senate ethics investigation of Cornyn

BREAKING: First steps taken toward Senate ethics investigation of Cornyn

WASHINGTON -- The first steps have been taken toward a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX,) the latest ethics misstep by the Texas senator.

A formal Request For Investigation was filed with the Senate Ethics Committee Feb. 10. Cornyn may face 24 counts of using his Senate office to promote his reelection campaign.

A search of the official Senate office's Twitter account (@JohnCornyn) finds Cornyn's taxpayer-funded office shared messages from the campaign account (@TeamCornyn,) photographs promoting Cornyn's re-election campaign and endorsements of Cornyn's re-election at least 24 times between Sept. 23, 2013 and Jan. 10, 2014.

Senate ethics rules strictly prohibit any communications from a senator's official office that directly promote or publicize his political campaign.

The Senate Ethics Manual clearly states "Rules Committee policy on Senate Internet services prohibits any linkage on the Member's official website to his or her (or any) campaign web site.  A senator's official Twitter account is governed by the same rules as his or her official website.

The materials have been turned over to Senate Ethics Committee investigators.  They are publicly available online at http://www.scribd.com/donnyferguson.

Cornyn has a history of violating ethical rules. Cornyn previously confessed to filing four years of false financial disclosure statements.

"In a series of financial-disclosure amendments that he began filing last July, Cornyn disclosed that he had actually been collecting that $10,132 annual pension as far back as 2006. He had not listed it on his original disclosure reports from 2006 to 2010," National Journal reported on June 17, 2013.

 FEC records also show Cornyn had has to correct false information on campaign finance reports at least 121 times.

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