What at first appeared to be a campaign ethics violation by Rep. Mark Amodei turned out to be an error by the Nevada Appeal staff that processed his advertising banner over the weekend.
His opponent Democrat Kristen Spees of Incline Village filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics after clicking on the Amodei campaign ad and discovering it was linked to his official congressional website. Congress adopted rules in 2008 barring members from using their official websites in any campaign activities.
After Amodei’s staff called the paper, General Manager Mark Raymond investigated and discovered the instructions from Amodei’s campaign were to link the ad to the congressman’s campaign website, not his official congressional site.
He said the link was fixed immediately after the problem was discovered.
“The Nevada Appeal is solely responsible for the error,” Raymond said in a post on the newspaper website. “The Nevada Appeal regrets and apologizes for the error.”