Hendersonville, NC, April 24, 2024 — Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, was sanctioned today after having been found in violation of federal law and the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The House Communications Standards Commission, the bipartisan commission of the House of Representatives responsible for enforcing laws and rules governing all “mass communications” sent out by U.S. Representatives, in a 6-0 decision, “found substantial reason to believe a violation occurred” relative to newsletters that Edwards sent to constituents last year.
The Commission acted on a complaint filed on March 13, 2024, by the Henderson County (North Carolina) Democratic Party. That complaint alleged that email newsletters sent out by Edwards in May, June, July, and December of 2023, violated federal law and rules of the House of Representatives by including personal attacks and disparaging comments about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Such attacks are specifically prohibited and “Edwards should have been well aware of those prohibitions,” said Leslie Carey, Chair of the Henderson County Democratic Party, who signed the complaint.
A previous complaint filed by the Henderson County Democratic Party, alleging that a mailer sent out by Edwards in December 2023, unlawfully targeted Democratic city officials in Asheville, NC, was dismissed by the Commission. “It is our belief that the Commission improperly dismissed our first complaint, but we are gratified that they found merit in our recent complaint and sanctioned Chuck Edwards for his egregious violations,” Carey said.
Publicly available information on the House of Representatives website reveals that in 2023 Edwards sent out more mass mailings, email newsletters, alerts, social media posts, and robocalls, than any other member of the North Carolina delegation. In fact, he was No. 3 in the entire Congress, at 250, only behind Bob Good (R VA) and Zachary Nunn (R-IA).
“No one is above the law, as Chuck Edwards often says, and of course that includes him. He should stop attacking the Biden family in these illegal newsletters, and spend more time working on issues that really matter to his constituents,” said Carey. “He needs to do two things to make this right with the voters of the 11th District: acknowledge his error, and assure his constituents that it will not happen again. That certainly is not too much to ask for this breach of the public trust.”
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