GOP hopeful Katie Arrington says SC’s Nancy Mace used taxpayer money to campaign. Did she?
The message of the mailer was abundantly clear in both what it said and what it showed.
On one side, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace stood camera-ready in front of a white Border Patrol car in a black tank top and gold aviator sunglasses, inches away from the large printed white letters on the right that declared: “BORDER SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY.”
On the other side, the postcard continued to hammer home the immigration issue by showcasing three photos of Mace at the U.S.-Mexico border above the words, “Congresswoman Mace’s 5 Border Solutions,” and a box of text stating her various votes and actions on immigration and the border wall.
The mailer in question was sent to roughly 50,000 households in the Charleston-anchored 1st Congressional District, a senior staffer in Mace’s office confirmed to The State newspaper.
It began landing in mailboxes sometime last week, or nearly three months before the June 14 primary election.
Mace, a first-term Republican running for reelection this year, said the piece of mail was a way to let her constituents know what she has done in Congress to address an issue that matters to them.
But Katie Arrington, the Republican congressional candidate who is backed in the race by former President Donald Trump, claims that Mace’s mailer crossed the line, saying it was a campaign message paid for by taxpayers.
On Monday, Arrington accused Mace of using her congressional office to send “campaign style” mailers to constituents, which would be a violation of House rules and federal law.
“Once again, Nancy Mace is demonstrating that she is just another self-serving politician. While she masquerades as a ‘Fiscal Conservative,’ her office is sending out campaign style mailers paid for with your tax dollars,” Arrington said in a statement issued by her campaign. “Unfortunately, this comes as no surprise to those who have been following her. This is just another example of her using the people of the Lowcountry to promote herself.”
Mace disputed the claims and accused Arrington of lying.
“I served with her in the state House and certainly know what she’s capable of doing and not doing — and something she’s certainly good at is not telling the truth,” Mace said in an interview with The State newspaper this week.
She also said that her office follows the law.
“And my opponent can’t say the same for herself,” Mace said in an apparent dig at Arrington, who was suspended from her position at the Pentagon last year after she was accused of leaking classified intelligence.
Arrington has claimed the allegations lodged against her were false, and points to a lawsuit she filed against her former employer that resulted in the government paying her attorneys fees in the case.
The mailer issue illustrates how contentious the Republican primary fight is becoming in one of the most closely watched congressional races in South Carolina.
It might also suggest that Mace is getting creative about ways she can subtly ingratiate herself with Trump’s voter base by reiterating her stance on immigration, an issue that the former president made an integral part of his own campaign message in 2016 and 2020.
What federal rules say about Mace’s mailer
Already, the content and timing of the mailer has raised eyebrows among some S.C. Republican political watchers.
“Just look at those pictures,” said David Woodard, a retired Clemson University political science professor who was involved in South Carolina GOP politics for more than 25 years. “They show a very important issue that she’s on one side of that will appeal to a GOP base. That’s what that mailer does.”
“She’s trying to get an advantage,” he said.
Mace insisted there is “nothing political” about the mail she sent from her office.
“We do mailers to our constituents because I run the office like a business, and I want people to know what their return on investment is,” Mace said, noting she also sent a year-end report to constituents in December.
These taxpayer-funded mass communications are commonly referred to as “franked mail.” The franking privilege dates back to 1775, and it enables lawmakers to use their signature instead paying for a stamp to communicate with the people they represent.
But there are rules surrounding what lawmakers can and cannot say in these official, taxpayer-funded mass communications, and when they can send it. No campaign content, electioneering or fundraising is allowed.
Additionally, any piece of unsolicited mass communications, which includes postal mail, emails, handouts, text messages, robocalls and advertisements for radio, TV and newspapers, must be reviewed and approved by the bipartisan Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards before sending.
A review of materials approved by and filed with the commission in the last two years show U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, sent more unsolicited mass communications than any U.S. House member from South Carolina, with 68. Mace, the newest member of South Carolina’s federal delegation, sent the second-most at 61.
“Franking rules exist to make sure that taxpayer dollars are not used for campaign activity, and also to make sure that incumbents don’t have an unfair advantage against challengers,” said Kedric Payne, the senior director for ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center and a former deputy chief counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Under federal guidelines, for example, lawmakers running for reelection cannot send any unsolicited mass mailing or mass communication from their office in the 60 days before any primary or general election.
Whether Mace supposedly violated her franking privileges is something of a moot point, Payne said Tuesday afternoon.
The fact that the mailer was sent as official mail means that it underwent a rigorous review process and was approved by the bipartisan committee that decides whether official mail is deemed “frankable” under the law, he said.
“Voters have a right to know that their elected officials are complying with ethics rules. And in this situation, the lawmaker has a strong argument that they are indeed doing that,” Payne said.
The Arrington campaign did not return repeated requests for comment asking whether Arrington had filed or planned to file an official complaint about Mace’s mailer.
Candidate fling opened last week for South Carolina’s 2022 primary elections and will close March 30 at noon.
So far, Mace has officially drawn at least two Republican primary challengers: Arrington, the former state lawmaker and the 2018 GOP nominee who is running for this U.S. House seat again, and Lynz Piper-Loomis, a military spouse who has been endorsed by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a once-prominent adviser to Trump.
The primary election is June 14.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 9:35 AM with the headline "GOP hopeful Katie Arrington says SC’s Nancy Mace used taxpayer money to campaign. Did she?."
