Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga. on Friday got dressed down from the Air Force for dressing up in his military uniform in campaign ads.
Collins, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Johnny Isakson, wore his Air Force uniform in several TV ads but didn't include a disclaimer per Defense Department regulations, Military.com reported.
"Congressman Collins and his campaign team are aware of the disclaimer requirements," the Air Force Reserve spokesman told Military.com.
Political disclaimers must be "prominent and clearly displayed," according to Department of Defense directives.
Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder Mikey Weinstein described the ads as a "flagrant" violation of military ethics, per Business Insider.
"Collins is engaging in a pervasive and pernicious, pattern and practice, of prostituting himself and violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and the regulations to further his political career," Weinstein told Insider on Thursday. "He is the primary character in these ads, completely and totally. There is nothing biographical. No disclaimer would even work if they were bigger than the pictures of him."
Collins is running against Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat when Isakson retired, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat and pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Weinstein, a lawyer and Air Force vet, charged Thursday that Collins was still running the ads in "blatant violation" of DoD directives and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Military.com reported.
"He has still not taken the ads down," Weinstein said, adding that he viewed the Air Force warning to Collins as inadequate.
In an Oct. 20 letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Weinstein said his group is demanding "official, criminal UCMJ charges be aggressively brought against Collins so that he faces a formal trial by court-martial."