Whistleblower complaint claims John James allegedly used official funds for campaign communications

A whistleblower has filed an official complaint with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, alleging that U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Township) misused official funds for his gubernatorial campaign by spending money on advertisements outside his congressional district. 

Carl Berry, the former longtime police chief in Plymouth — whose zip code is represented by Rep. Debbie Dingell in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District — submitted the complaint on May 27, alleging that he received an “unsolicited mass communication from a member who does not represent me” in the form of YouTube advertisements.

The complaint includes screenshots of Google’s advertising database, which shows an ad for James ran from May 18 through June 1 in the entire Detroit Designated Market Area. A different listing for the same ad, detailed in the complaint, shows that it was strictly limited to Michigan’s 10th Congressional District.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are allowed to use taxpayer funds to send out communications within their district in a practice known as “franking,” and since fiscal year 1999, members have been able to use any portion of their official budget for these official communications.

The House of Representatives Communication Standards Manual states that “Unsolicited mass communications must serve the district in which the Member represents, and to the greatest extent possible, shall not be targeted outside of the Member’s district,” and that for communications that are not sent to specific mailing addresses, like online ads, “best efforts must be made to ensure the communication is distributed to as few individuals outside the district as possible.”

Based on these rules, the complaint alleges that James violated those rules by not limiting all of his online official messaging to his district when there is clearly an option to do so.

YouTube’s coverage of the Detroit area includes portions of the state’s 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th Congressional Districts. According to the screenshots included in the complaint, the version of the advertisement that ran strictly in the 10th District cost between $4,000 and $4,500, reaching up to 250,000 people, while the version that ran in the broader metro area cost between $6,000 and $7,000, reaching up to 450,000 viewers. 

“Our policy is that paid Congressional communications are targeted to communicating with the district in full compliance with all franking rules,” a spokesperson for James’ office told the Michigan Advance. “When the vendor here learned that their targeting on a YouTube video was incorrect, they didn’t bill for it so no taxpayer funds were used.” 

As of June 2, all of James’ current official ads in Google are geographically limited to the 10th Congressional District.

Franking communications also come with limitations as to what they can say — including a ban on “political and personal material, which specifically includes “campaign content or electioneering,” as well as “content developed using campaign resources.”

Berry’s complaint also alleges that James is using his official messaging for campaign purposes, arguing that because of similar messaging between James’ official ads and tweets from his campaign account, James has violated the franking rules.

“By intentionally targeting voters outside his Congressional District with messages he also uses in his campaign for Governor, he is using official resources to aid his campaign for Governor,” the complaint reads. 

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James’ primary opponents in the gubernatorial race were quick to attack him for the complaint.

“John James is using taxpayer dollars to run campaign ads in Detroit because he does not want to own his record of voting to put kill switches in cars,” former Attorney General Mike Cox said in a press release. “Michigan families work too hard to have their tax dollars turned into John James’ personal campaign slush fund. He should apologize and pay every penny back to the taxpayers.”

Cox’s campaign manager, Teemu Garrity, added that James is using his official resources because the campaign “can’t afford to do it itself.”

Meanwhile, John Yob, a strategist with Perry Johnson’s campaign, posted on X.

“John James fraudulently diverts taxpayer funds allocated for keeping his constituents informed to instead wasting those tax dollars promoting himself outside his district,” Yob wrote.  “His campaign is broke, desperate, and breaking the law/ethics.”

This is also not the first issue that James’ campaign has faced for allegedly using government resources to promote his campaign — in August 2025, an ethics complaint was filed against James over an event hosted and promoted by the congressman’s office that heavily spotlighted signs for his campaign.

Democrats also took aim at James for the complaint.

“John James is using taxpayer money to benefit himself while his campaign is struggling in the polls and he’s fighting with his primary rivals to try and get Donald Trump’s endorsement,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Derrick Honeyman in a press release. “Once again, James has shown he can’t be trusted as this GOP primary continues to get nastier and personal.”