Ethics panel clears Rep. Polis

The House Ethics Committee said Monday that it is dismissing allegations against Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) for alleged improper endorsements of a video game and a menswear company in his district.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), an independent watchdog, concluded in a separate review earlier this year that there was substantial reason to believe that Polis used official resources to promote the businesses in violation of federal law and House ethics rules. 

Polis had appeared in a video produced by Riot Games, the developer of the “League of Legends” video game, and also publicized and participated in an event with Ninox Designs, a menswear company in his Boulder-area district.

{mosads}The Ethics Committee concluded that Polis agreed to both events with no commercial purposes in mind.

“While it does appear that both the Riot Games video and the Ninox clothing event were intended, at least in part, to promote the businesses, this is true in virtually every instance in which a business participates in or arranges an event with a Member,” the Ethics Committee wrote in its report.

Polis said he participated in the events with the two private businesses as a means of constituent outreach and told ethics investigators that he never told anyone to buy anything.

“I’m glad the Ethics Committee promptly and unanimously dismissed this matter and found no violation. The activities — an interview I did for a website popular with gamers and a tongue-in-cheek press event lampooning my infamous fashion sense — reflect my ongoing efforts to creatively reach constituents where they are in a relevant manner,” Polis said in a statement. 

Riot Games said that it asked Polis to appear in a video series profiling League of Legends players in large part for his role in legislation regarding online piracy and intellectual property theft.

Polis’s staff posted about the Riot Games video on the lawmaker’s official Twitter account, but the tweet was ultimately deleted “several months later” following a discussion with Ethics Committee staff amid the OCE review.

The founder of Ninox Designs, meanwhile, reached out to Polis’s office in March of this year following a GQ Magazine story last year stating the lawmaker had the “worst Congressional style ever.”

Ninox’s founder suggested doing a publicized “makeover” with some of the company’s clothing products. Polis later bought Ninox clothing with his own personal funds following a June 30 event at a park in Boulder, Colo. 

Ninox launched a social media blitz to promote the makeover, including photos of Polis on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as a photo on Facebook of the lawmaker wearing sunglasses to advertise a sunglasses sale titled the “$89 Polis Special.”

Polis and his staff said they were unaware of Ninox using his image for the sunglasses sale until after the sale ended. Upon learning of the use of his image, Polis asked Ninox to remove the Facebook post.

While clearing Polis of the allegations, the Ethics panel noted in its report that lawmakers should be careful when coordinating events with private businesses given that House rules do not offer a “bright line.”

“The Committee encourages all Members who are contemplating participating in events with commercial entities to contact the Committee with any questions they may have, and to exercise caution to avoid any appearance of an improper official endorsement or use of official resources for a commercial purpose,” the panel wrote.