Scott Perry Corruption & Ethics Pennsylvania

Scott Perry Appears to Have Filmed a Campaign Video in His Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Office. Now He Faces an Ethics Complaint.

Rep. Scott Perry's campaign twice posted a video that appears to have been recorded in his congressional office, and an ethics complaint says he repeatedly used official House resources to help his campaign. The House's own ethics rules say campaign work can't happen in official buildings.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 29, 2026

Scott Perry Appears to Have Filmed a Campaign Video in His Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Office. Now He Faces an Ethics Complaint. — Photo: Marc Levy / AP Photo, via WITF

Scott Perry is facing an ethics complaint over a campaign video that, according to WITF, appears to have been recorded inside his congressional office. That office is paid for by taxpayers.

His campaign posted the video to the Scott Perry for Congress Facebook page in November 2025. It posted the same video again on October 16, less than three weeks before Election Day.

The House has a plain rule about this. The first item on the House Ethics Committee's list of the top ten things members must remember about campaign activity says: "You may not conduct campaign activities in official buildings or using official resources."

Neither Perry's campaign nor his congressional office had responded to WITF by the time it published.

What the complaint says

The complaint was filed Monday with the Office of Congressional Conduct. That's the House office that investigates members and, when it finds enough, sends cases on to the Ethics Committee. The complaint alleges:

"Rep. Scott Perry repeatedly used official House resources to benefit his campaign."

The word "repeatedly" is there for a reason. Besides the office video, the complaint points to a 2024 post in which Perry's campaign shared a video of him at a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting. Using official proceedings in campaign material may break House rules too.

Kedric Payne, the general counsel and ethics director at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, explained to WITF why this matters:

"This matters because it could violate the most basic ethics principle at the federal, state and local level, which is you cannot use taxpayer funds for political campaign activity."

Payne isn't an outsider to this process. From 2009 to 2014 he was deputy chief counsel in the same office where the complaint was filed.

Who filed it

The complaint comes from Defend the Vote, a liberal PAC that has endorsed Perry's Democratic opponent, Janelle Stelson, and has given her campaign $10,000 since July 2025, according to WITF's review of federal filings. A PAC spokesperson said the complaint stands on the House's own rules whoever files it.

That's the right test. Whether a political opponent noticed the problem doesn't change what the House rule says, and the video is on Perry's own campaign page for anyone to see.

What the video was defending

The video started as damage control. On the Chris Stigall Show, a nationally syndicated conservative radio program, Perry said during the 2025 government shutdown that Democrats "hate the military," and that "the Democrats don't care about the Pentagon, they don't care about the Constitution, or the nation's defense."

When Stelson's campaign ran ads using those comments, Perry's campaign reposted the office video as its rebuttal:

"I never said anything like it. I specifically and forcefully said 'DEMOCRAT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS,' and I stand by it – with proof."

So Perry used his official office as a set for a campaign argument about what he said on talk radio.

Not the first time this race has gone this way

This isn't the first ethics problem in Perry's campaign. His campaign also aired an ad accusing Stelson of exposing herself to a child, which flashed an "AFFIDAVIT" on screen. WITF found the claim had no evidence behind it, and the document turned out to be a notarized statement from a Perry supporter. No charges were ever filed.

Perry also isn't the only Republican on this site accused of using taxpayer resources for campaign work. Texts and calendars from Sen. Roger Marshall's 2020 campaign appear to show his office using taxpayer money and congressional staff for campaign work.

What happens next

If Perry wins re-election, the Ethics Committee could rebuke him in writing. If he loses, the complaint is moot. Voters in Pennsylvania's 10th District will decide which of those happens before any investigator does.

The bottom line

Scott Perry's campaign posted a video, twice, that appears to have been filmed in his taxpayer-funded congressional office, and it also used footage from an official House committee meeting in campaign material. The House Ethics Committee's own top rule for campaigns is that members may not campaign in official buildings or with official resources. Neither Perry nor his office had explained either one to WITF by the time it published.