ACU Files Ethics Complaint Against Harry Reid

Advocacy Group Says Minority Leader Guilty of Gross Violation:
Leahy and Levin Also Named

ALEXANDRIA, VA - The American Conservative Union, the nation's oldest and largest conservative grassroots organization, yesterday filed an ethics complaint against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The complaint comes in response to Sen. Reid's May 12th reference to judicial nominee Henry Saad's confidential FBI file on the floor of the United States Senate.

"Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway…," said Reid on the floor of the Senate. "All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there."

According to Senate rules, Reid was prohibited from even accessing the FBI file, let alone publicly discussing the information held within. ACU filed the complaint with Ethics Committee Chairman George Voinovich (R-OH). The complaint also cites recent improper referencing of confidential materials by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

"Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy and Carl Levin's references to judicial nominees confidential FBI files are gross violations of Senate rules and ethics," said ACU Chairman David Keene. "On behalf of the American Conservative Union and its more than one million members, I urge Senator Voinovich and the Ethics Committee to quickly and fully investigate this egregious behavior and end this pattern of systematic abuse."

According to Senate Rule 29, which governs Senate confidentiality matters, "any Senator, officer, or employee who shall disclose the secret or confidential business or proceedings of the Senate…shall be liable to suffer expulsion from the body."

"Confidential FBI files are just that - strictly confidential," continued Keene. "Henry Saad himself isn't allowed to access his file to defend himself. The Democrats blatant violations of Senate ethics are a dangerous and desperate attempt at character assassination and must not be tolerated.

Official Ethics Complaint Documentation