Rod Blum is back, with some baggage

Maybe, while you contemplated America’s slide into authoritarianism, you missed the news that Republican Rod Blum is back.

When last we saw Rod Blum, he was defeated in 2018 by Democrat Abby Finkenauer and lost his bid for a third term in Congress. Yes, he skipped his election night gathering in Peosta, so we didn’t actually see him.

Now, the software executive and Dubuque native is running in the 2nd District after incumbent Rep. Ashley Hinson decided to run for a vacant U.S. Senate seat.

“We need more representatives in Washington who understand the business world and what it means to create jobs, balance budgets, and make tough decisions,” Blum said.

Well, about that.

In February 2018, Ryan Foley of the Associated Press broke the story that Blum had failed to disclose his connection to the internet marketing company Tin Moon. He was listed as a director when the company was formed in 2016.

Tin Moon promised to help companies slapped with Food and Drug Administration health and safety violations bury that information in web searches.

AP also reported that the company’s website used Blum’s official congressional photo. Also, a Blum congressional staffer appeared in a video testimonial as a client touting Tin Moon’s work, even though he had never used the company’s services and didn’t work for any company that had hired Tin Moon.

The whole thing was pretty shady. Blum argued he was guilty of a clerical error in his financial disclosure statements and claimed he had never seen the Tin Moon website. He also argued Tin Moon was not yet doing business in 2016 when he failed to disclose it. His the photo was removed and his title was changed to “majority shareholder.”

Blum said he didn’t know why a member of his staff posed as client in the video.

“This is a textbook case of making a mountain out of a molehill for political gain,” Blum told the AP. “While I regret this administrative oversight, I will not concede to the narrative that this is some sort of scandal.”

But, alas, the molehill grew. In July 2018, the case was referred to the Office of Congressional Ethics. In September 2018 the inquiry was extended. In December 2018, after Blum lost the election, a report from the ethics office was released.

The report found “there is substantial reason to believe” Blum omitted mention of Tin Moon from his s financial disclosure filing, used House resources to promote Tin Moon and permitted the company to use “an unfair or deceptive trade practice.”

The House Ethics Committee announced it would investigate. But because Blum lost the election, the matter faded away when a new Congress was sworn in.

Blum blamed Democrats and, of course, the media.

As we argued in a March 2018 Gazette editorial, Blum could have simply apologized for violating ethics rules and conceded it’s a bad idea for a member of Congress to profit from hiding public information. “Instead, he indignantly passes the buck to partisan politics and downplays his failure to disclose. Instead of taking personal responsibility, he blames the 'politics of personal destruction,’” we wrote in our editorial.

Now, Blum faces a crowded Republican primary. The good news for Blum is Trump’s mountain of corruption finally will make Blum’s woes look like that molehill.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com