Apparently John McCain decided to use campaign money to put out a robo-call urging passage of his healthcare amendment. Here is the script:

On Monday I introduced the first Republican amendment to the massive health care bill, which would send the bill back to the Senate Finance Committee and stop the Democrats from cutting vital Medicare coverage for our seniors. I need Sen. Blanche Lincoln to join me in this effort. If you agree with me, please go to our website at www.healthcaretaskforce.org and sign a petition to Sen. Lincoln urging her to join my effort to fight a Washington DC government takeover of your health care.

CREW points out that using campaign money for official Senate business is a big no-no and has filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee over it:

CREW’s complaint alleges Sen. McCain violated Senate Rule 38, which prohibits senators from maintaining “unofficial office accounts,” meaning they cannot use private donations to support official senate activities and expenses. By urging voters to call their senators to urge them to support his motion, Sen. McCain was engaged in grassroots lobbying. This activity clearly was related to Sen. McCain’s official duties. By using an outside entity’s funds — those of the NRSC — to pay for expenses related to his official duties, Sen. McCain violated Senate rules.

Melanie Sloan points out that if McCain wanted to send this message out then he should have used his own money. Apparently McCain either doesn’t believe in the ethics enough, or he didn’t really care about his amendment since he decided to break the rules when he has more than enough money to pay for the calls himself.