Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is working on new legislation that would close any loopholes in the law banning deceptive fundraising mailers of the sort sent recently by the RNC, according to his office.
“We’re gonna do everything we can to protect the integrity of the census,” Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for the California Republican, told TPMmuckraker. “If there is a loophole, we want to close it.” Bardella said he expected the legislation would be introduced today and marked up next week.
“We do not want people misinformed or disenfranchised,” he added.
The RNC has said that its mailer — reported by TPMmuckraker yesterday — did not violate the law passed by Congress last month. The RNC may be hanging that claim on the fact that the new mailer doesn’t say the word “Census” on the outside of the envelope — which, according to Bardella, is required to trigger the law. Rather, the word appears through the envelope’s window. Issa’s new legislation would close that loophole.
Issa, the top GOPer on the House Oversight committee, had previously declared of the RNC’s mailer: “Nothing could be more wrong.”
Bardella said that Issa would offer the legislation in place of sending a letter of complaint to RNC chair Michael Steele, as previous reports indicated he planned to do, alongside Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
Congressional Democrats have already called on the US Postmaster General to probe whether the mailer is legal under current law.
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