Congressman Rod Blum may have thought his worst scandal of the 2018 cycle was running out of a TV interview with Iowa school children looking on, but the blockbuster report that Blum violated House ethics rules for hiding a shady internet company that helps businesses bury FDA safety warnings definitely takes the cake. Not only did Blum fail to disclose his company, but he also used taxpayer resources to promote it, having his Chief of Staff appear in video testimonials for his own profit. In a follow-up, the Associated Press reports that while Blum said the firm “wasn’t doing business in 2016,” his own advertising directly contradicts those claims as his team goes into overdrive to scrub the Tin Moon website of his personal involvement and that of his Congressional staff.
Here are a few of the headlines Iowans are waking up to:
- Associated Press: Iowa Congressman Failed to Disclose Internet Company
- Associated Press: Congressman claims undisclosed firm wasn’t ‘doing business’
- Telegraph Herald: Blum violated House ethics rules, review finds
- The Gazette: Rep. Rod Blum’s firm offered to obscure FDA warnings
- KCRG: Congressman Rod Blum failed to disclose internet company
- Politico: Prescription Pulse: CATCHING OUR ATTENTION: HOW AN IOWA CONGRESSMAN HELPED COMPANIES BURY FDA WARNING LETTERS
- MSNBC.com: Iowa Republican faces a doozy of an ethics mess
- Hill: Report: Blum Failed to Disclose Ownership of New Company
- Washington Post: The Latest: Iowa congressman failed to disclose new company
- Des Moines Register: Rod Blum didn’t disclose that he was a director for an internet company — which posted a testimonial from his current chief of staff
- Bleeding Heartland: Rod Blum’s undisclosed, shady company used Congressional staffer for fake ad
- TV Clips: WHO, KWWL, KFXA