Rep. Mike Collins’ top aide, who is the subject of a sprawling House Ethics Committee review, received more than $170,000 in office reimbursements from the lawmaker’s official House account, according to records reviewed by NOTUS.
Brandon Phillips, who at one point served as Collins’ chief of staff but as of January 2026 holds the title “senior policy adviser,” received over $178,000 in office reimbursements between 2023 and 2025, according to the records. Most of the reimbursements were for franking — a privilege granted to members of Congress that allows them to use congressional funds to tout their accomplishments in office. The money can be spent on mail, television ads, digital ads and more.
While chiefs of staff are permitted to use personal cards to pay for franking material and then get reimbursed, the reimbursements come at a time when Phillips is under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee, which is reviewing his office conduct. An Office of Congressional Conduct report raised questions about his extensive use of reimbursements and alleged he potentially put his girlfriend on the payroll. The House Ethics Committee is also reviewing spending allegations against Collins.
The breakdown of the reimbursements are $69,244.57 for “advertisements,” $23,666.62 for “frankable printing and reproduction,” $2,000 for “non-frankable printing and reproduction,” $69,368.97 for “frankable telecom and teletownhall,” $8,000 in “recording (outside),” and $6,057.30 in “publications and reference material.”
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Collins’ office provided NOTUS with a mixture of invoices and receipts for five of the purchases that went to advertising or mailing needs. They showed Phillips put an expense $11,411 on an American Express card. The card was also used for two expenses of $800 each. The office also provided two invoices later paid by Phillips: one for $13,903 and another for $2,850.
“The reimbursements are associated with legitimate and permissible franked communications,” a spokesperson for Collins said in a statement. “None of the payments are income nor do any staff have an ownership stake in any of the vendors used.”
Phillips receives $195,000 in annual salary from Collins’ office, according to House records.
NOTUS spoke with several House Republican chiefs of staff, who said they avoid using personal credit cards for office expenses to avoid any perception of impropriety.
“Some chiefs of staff think it is a good idea to pay for office needs themselves and then get reimbursed through the office in order to get credit card points,” one Republican chief told NOTUS. “Those people are dumb, but it takes a special type of idiot to do it for franking.”
The additional reimbursements come amid a House Ethics Committee review into Collins and Phillips. A report from the Office of Congressional Conduct scrutinized Phillips’ use of the office’s Member Representational Allowance, specifically his reimbursement for travel expenses.
The report said that they found that Phillips reimbursed himself $70,760 in “travel expenses” in 2023. “Lodging comprised the majority of Mr. Phillips’s travel expenses ($42,654.83), with the next largest amounts spent on airfare ($22,266.20) and taxis or rideshares ($4,713.94),” the report reads.
“A sample analysis of MRA travel disbursements for five other Members’ chiefs of staff in southeastern states—Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and North Carolina— suggests that the approximately $70,000 spent on travel by Mr. Phillips is relatively high. The sampled chiefs of staff for freshmen Members in the same region of the country spent between approximately $3,300 and $8,500 on travel in 2023,” the report said.
In 2024, Phillips’ travel reimbursement was similar, accounting for approximately $58,400.
The OCC recommended issuing a subpoena for Phillips.
While the report said his expenses are “relatively high,” Phillips’ reimbursements “Appear to Fall into Allowable Categories.” It also added that information “raised other questions about the permissibility of the chief of staff’s travel expense reimbursements” that they could not answer without Phillips’ and Collins’ cooperation, which they were not receiving.
In total, Phillips received more than $300,000 in reimbursements — on top of his salary — between 2023 and 2025, according to the records reviewed by NOTUS and the OCC report.
“This bogus complaint is a sad attempt to derail one of Georgia’s most effective conservative legislators in Congress. Rep. Collins looks forward to providing the House Ethics Committee all factual information and putting these meritless allegations to rest,” a spokesperson for Collins said of the OCC report.
Correction: This story has been updated to show the ethics allegations against Rep. Mike Collins are public.
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