House Republicans are being accused of breaking the law by using taxpayer funds to produce a partisan advertisement critical of President Barack Obama just days before the election.

Last Friday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform released via YouTube a one-minute video slamming the Obama administration for overspending federal dollars on state dinners.

The message does not explicitly say anything about voting against Obama, but its timing seemed more than coincidental to government watchdog groups, given that the video was uploaded only four days before voters went to the polls.

Paul Ryan, an election law and ethics attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, told The Center for Public Integrity that the video amounts to an “electioneering” campaign ad.

He added that if Republicans had aired the video on television, they probably would have been required to report it to the Federal Election Commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) intends to file a complaint about the video. “It is so far beyond the pale. I think it is clearly an ethics violation,” Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, told the Center. “It is one of the most outrageous abuses of official resources I’ve ever seen.”

Entitled “Spend Like he Says, not Like he Does,” the video shows Obama in a tuxedo holding champagne while dollar bills rain down.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-California), an outspoken critic of the president, chairs the committee. Committee spokesman Seamus Kraft said the video was “fully consistent with House rules and did not incur any additional taxpayer expenditures for its production.” He did not explain why he chose to use the word “additional.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Issa Committee Accused of Making 'Sham' Campaign Ad (by Rachael Marcus, Center for Public Integrity)

Obama State Dinners: Spend Like He Says, Not Like He Does (YouTube)

Video Release: Record State Dinner Spending at Obama White House (House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)