Aberdeen newspaper reports on possible ethics violation

Scott Waltman at the Aberdeen American News reported a story Friday headlined "Staff campaigning not violation; Rules allow Daschle employee to work in Senate office, on re-election bid." Excerpt:

Steve Erpenbach is the state director for Daschle, a Democratic senator seeking reelection this fall. He's also doing campaign work for his boss.

Daschle's camp said Erpenbach is taking advantage of a Senate ethics rules clause that allows two members of a senator's official staff to do campaign work if certain stipulations are met.

Under the rule, up to two members of a senator's official staff can do campaign work if they:

• Have done 40 hours of official Senate-related (not campaign) work in a week;

• Do the campaign work on their own time; and

• Aren't on government property.

Waltman's story has no information about whether Erpenbach did in fact do 40 hours of Senate-related work, or whether Erpenbach did in fact do the campaign work on his own time. Waltman seems to have just taken the Daschle camp's word for it. It's mainstream investigative journalism at its finest.

For a refresher on this story, click HERE.