AP Investigation: Blum Violated Ethics Rules

Dubuque County’s representative in Congress violated ethics rules by failing to disclose his role in a company formed after he took office. An investigation by the Associated Press finds that Republican Rod Blum did not list his role as the CEO of Tin Moon Corporation on disclosure forms. That’s despite Congressional rules dictating that members list all corporate positions, even ones that are unpaid.

A website for Tin Moon had listed Blum as its CEO and displayed his official Congressional portrait. The site has since been change to show Blum as a “majority shareholder.” Tin Moon is based out of the same Dubuque office as another Blum company, Digital Canal. The Tin Moon website also showed Blum’s Chief of Staff posing as a Digital Canal executive and claiming to be a “satisfied customer” of Tin Moon. Tin Moon bills itself as able to clean up companies’ online reputations, specifically if they’ve received warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration.

In a statement released after the story broke, Blum acknowledged an “administrative oversight” in not listing his association with the company. But he went on to say that the story was “making a mountain out of a molehill.” The Iowa Democratic Party has called for a full ethics investigation into the case.

http://kdth.radiodubuque.com/ethics-rules-possibly-violated-blum/