Nancy Pelosi criticized on Koch film

By Lauren French for Politico. 

The show must go on — unless it breaks congressional rules.

Rep. Candice Miller, the chairwoman of the House Administration Committee, wrote to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday saying a scheduled film screening of an anti-Koch brothers movie in the Capitol Visitor Center is violating House and Senate rules.

The screening for “Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition” is scheduled for Tuesday evening and both Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will participate in a question and answer session for the film.

But, in letter obtained by POLITICO, Miller (R-Mich.) wrote that she has “several serious concerns” that using the Capitol Visitor Center for the film “may cross the line into partisan politics.”

Rules created by the House and Senate committees charged with administration of the Capitol complex state that “no audio visual presentations in the CVC may premiere, preview, showcase, or publicize a film.”

“We cannot hold partisan political rallies or fundraisers on the grounds of the Capitol, or within its walls. Our work in this hallowed building must solely be in the interests of the American people and not int the interests of any political cause,” Miller wrote.

A spokesperson for Pelosi said the rules cited by Miller don’t apply to rooms in the House side of the visitor center.

“As Chairwoman Miller acknowledges in her letter, the room in question is not governed by the rules she cites. Regardless, this film was created by a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and this event is neither a fundraiser or a screening, but a press conference in which clips from the film will be shown,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.

He added: “The fact the Chairwoman Miller wrote this letter demonstrates the reach of the Koch Brothers into our government and why there is a need for the public to be more fully informed of their activities, which is the goal of this film.”

Brave New Films, the developer of the film, later removed the RSVP for the premiere from their website.