Heller More Focused on Politics and “Self-Enrichment” Than Doing His Job and Helping Nevadans

Senator Heller is coming under fire for another broken promise: pledging to work “full time, 24/7” for Nevadans and touting “his ability… to help Nevada” as the chair of two Senate subcommittees when, in reality, Heller has yet to hold a meeting in the last year and a half since he took on the roles.

But Heller’s campaign has been able to help at least one constituency: his family. A report from the Reno Gazette Journal finds that Heller has paid his son at least $52,000 in campaign funds over the last two years, despite the business having no other employees nor being listed as a paid vendor for any other campaign, which good-government watchdogs say “raise[s] eyebrows.”

“These revelations shouldn’t come as a surprise – for the past year Senator Heller has been more focused on running for reelection than actually doing his job and working for Nevadans,” said DSCC spokesman David Bergstein. “It’s the latest example of Heller saying one thing but doing another, and Nevadans will hold him accountable in November.”

Nevada Independent: Despite early promises, Heller has yet to hold hearings in either of his congressional subcommittees

• Over the past two years, Republican Sen. Dean Heller has publicly urged his fellow senators and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to work “full time, 24/7” to advance President Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s agenda in the U.S. Senate.
• But that enthusiasm hasn’t translated to Heller’s role chairing two Senate subcommittees, which have yet to meet over the last year and a half since Heller was appointed to lead them and touted his ability in news releases to help Nevada through those roles.
• A review of committee calendars for both the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure and the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment — both of which are chaired by Heller — have not met since he was named chairman in January and February 2017.
• Subcommittees are a key component of the legislative workflow in Congress. Most congressional business is done through the work of committees — the Senate has 21 standing and non-standing committees, with a total of 67 affiliated subcommittees designed to cover specific policy areas.

Read the full article here.

Reno Gazette Journal: Sen. Dean Heller paid son at least $52,500 in campaign cash for social media consulting

• U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., paid his son’s company at least $52,500 in campaign funds over the past two years, according to a Reno Gazette Journal review of election filings.
• Reports filed by Nevada’s senior senator show Heller Enterprises LLC — a little-known music production company started by Harrison Heller in 2013 — was the Heller campaign’s second-highest-paid social and digital media consultant since July 2016. The Utah-based business has no other employees. It is not listed as a paid vendor for any other federal election campaign.
• Yet an RGJ analysis of thousands of campaign finance disclosures reveals the company was among the 20 best-paid social media consultants hired by a federal campaign committee over the past decade. It was the fourth-highest-paid such vendor across 11 Western states over the same time period.
• Those payments raised eyebrows among good-government watchdogs, who pointed out that federal law bars candidates from overpaying family members for campaign services.
• Photos published last year on the former BYU student’s social media accounts document a pair of trips to Paris and Thailand, each posted within two weeks of  receiving a four-figure check from Heller’s camp.
• State business filings show Heller Enterprises LLC operated under an expired business license for at least part of the time it worked for the campaign. That license was reinstated in September 2017. The company has no discernible presence on social media.
• “Any payment to a candidate’s family member that seems unusually high is a red flag for me,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause, a liberal-leaning nonprofit watchdog group. “Candidates should exercise an abundance of caution in this area and should be prepared to publicly justify such expenses to the public, the press and, most importantly, to the FEC.”

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HuffPost: Sen. Dean Heller’s Campaign Paid His Social Media Influencer Son More Than $50,000

• Nevada GOP Sen. Dean Heller’s campaign has paid his son, a social media influencer, more than $50,000 since July 2016, according to Federal Election Commission records.
• “A candidate or office-holder contracting with a family member raises questions about personal use of campaign money,” said Brendan Fischer, the director of federal and FEC reform at the Campaign Legal Center. “If a candidate can use donor money to fund the lifestyle of themselves or their family members, the risk of corruption goes up.”
• Campaign finance reform advocates and ethics groups have called the practice “legally alright but morally kind of sticky.”

Read the full article here.

Associated Press: Heller’s Son Paid $52K by Campaign for Social Media Work

• U.S. Sen. Dean Heller’s campaign paid the Nevada Republican’s son at least $52,500 over the past two years, according to a review of campaign finance records by the Reno Gazette Journal.
• Harrison’s Heller, 29, has no other employees at his Utah-based music recording business Heller Enterprises LLC, and the company has not been listed as a paid vendor for any other federal election campaign, the newspaper reported Friday.
• It’s common for candidates to hire family members, but federal law bars candidates from overpaying members for campaign services and critics say the practice can appear to be self-dealing.
• “Unfortunately, as a matter of policy, it doesn’t look unusual,” Meredith McGehee, executive director of campaign finance watchdog Issue One, said. “I say unfortunately because it lends itself, certainly, to the appearance that there is self-enrichment going on.

Read the full article here.