KTVQ

Posted: Mar 9, 2010 3:17 PM
Updated: Mar 9, 2010 3:56 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) A challenger to Louisiana Sen. David Vitter filed an ethics complaint Tuesday, claiming a fundraising letter for the Republican incumbent's campaign makes illegal use of a government emblem.

The complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics alleges Vitter's fundraising plea violated federal law and Senate ethics rules by using a letterhead designed to resemble an official government document, said Bradley Beychok, campaign manager for Democratic candidate Charlie Melancon.

The letterhead shows an eagle clutching arrows and an olive branch. It's like the image on the back of a dollar bill, with a few pieces of the symbol missing and the eagle facing the opposite direction. A lawyer for Melancon's campaign, Brian Svoboda, said the use of the U.S. seal or a likeness of that seal is illegal.

"David Vitter believes the rules and the laws don't apply to him, but they do," Beychok said. "The fundraising letter is misleading. There's a reason they prohibit the use of this. They don't want to convey an official government endorsement."

Vitter issued a statement calling the complaint "frivolous."

"Funny, Charlie Melancon didn't file an ethics complaint when Barack Obama used an eagle seal in his presidential campaign. Maybe it's because Charlie had endorsed Obama," Vitter said.

Melancon, a congressman from Napoleonville, about 60 miles west of New Orleans, is the only announced Democrat challenging Vitter in the Senate race. The primary election is Aug. 28, and the general election is set for Nov. 2.

Melancon's campaign provided a copy of Vitter's fundraising letter, which was sent in February.

"You can't make the law look the other way by having the eagle look the other way," Svoboda said.

Vitter said in his statement, "Charlie Melancon's arrogant allies who run this Congress don't own the rights to the eagle any more than the NFL owns the rights to 'Who Dat.' Right after Melancon quits the Budget Committee because he doesn't have time to fight the Obama budget, he's spending his time filing frivolous complaints."