It was months ago, while President Donald Trump and House Republicans faced opposition to health care legislation that would leave 23 million more Americans without coverage, that Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen struck back at one of his critics.

Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) reportedly told a member of Lakeland Bank's board of directors at the bottom of a fundraising letter that a senior vice president, Saily Avelenda of West Caldwell, was one of the "ringleaders" of NJ 11th for Change.

Avelenda later resigned her position. Richard W. Painter, a professor of law at the University of Minnesota and former chief ethics officer to President George W. Bush called Frelinghuysen's action "an awful thing to do."

It led to an ethics complaint filed by the Campaign for Accountability, some of whose advisory board members have ties to the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee doesn't want that incident to be lost to history, especially when it concerns a candidate who in a competitive race for re-election.

So the DCCC announced it was sending a copy of "Ethics for Dummies" to Frelinghuysen's Morristown office. The book's chapters include "The Golden Rule: Common Sense Ethics," "Serving the Public: Professional Ethics," and "Butting Heads: Is Ethics Just a Matter of Opinion?"

"Either Frelinghuysen is ignorant of the ethical standards that come with his office, or he's chosen to disregard them -- neither is acceptable," DCCC spokesman Evan Lukaske said. "Representative Frelinghuysen abused the power of his office when he targeted his own constituent for exercising her First Amendment rights. If Frelinghuysen is confused about why he's facing an ethics complaint, 'Ethics for Dummies' should be enlightening."

The National Republican Congressional Committee wasn't impressed.

"Petty political stunts like this reveal the Democrats' glaring level of desperation over their divided and leaderless party," spokesman Chris Martin said. Voters understand that Congressman Frelinghuysen will continue to deliver results for his district - and they won't be distracted by Nancy Pelosi's childish antics."