Oklahoma politician Josh Cockroft has caused a bit of a stir in the Sooner State by asking his constituents – at least, the 3,000 or so that follow him on Facebook – to buy gifts for his wife’s upcoming baby shower, Reverb Press is reporting .
In a series of posts that have since been deleted from Josh Cockroft’s Facebook page , the Republican politician points out that he and his very pregnant wife could do with some donations for their upcoming baby shower. Reverb Press saved screnshots of those posts.
You’ll notice that this request for baby shower gifts is made under the name “ Representative Josh Cockroft.” That’s important, because later, this happened:
His second request for baby shower donations was made under the name “Josh Cockroft,” without the “Representative part.” The Lost Ogle points out that perhaps he changed the name of his Facebook page from “Representative Josh Cockroft” to just “Josh Cockroft” so he could try to legitimately claim that the request for baby shower donations was made from his personal life, and not from his status as an elected politician.
“Obviously, you have to wonder if posting something like that on a public Facebook account that’s primarily used for campaign/job purposes is an ethics violation. He’s an elected official. There are very strict rules on what types of gifts they can accept. What’s to prevent energy industry lobbyists or political insiders from buying the Cockroft’s a fancy new crib or 1,000 diapers as a ‘personal gift.’”
In fact, Cockroft did try to claim that he was making the request for donations personally, and not as an elected politician.
Reverb Press writer Dan Simpson points out that Mr. Cockroft is hardly in a position to beg for donations.
“It’s safe to say that Cockroft’s household income is more than the average Oklahoma household income of $45,000. Their baby girl is due to be born in late March, and it’s quite obvious that the Cockroft’s first child will not be amongst the 24 percent of children in Oklahoma who live in poverty.”
As of this post, it is not clear if Josh Cockroft will face any charges of ethics violations in the Oklahoma legislature for begging his constituents for baby shower donations.
[Images courtesy of: Reverb Press ]
