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,...

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