MORGANTOWN — As the House Ethics Committee continues its review of Office of Congressional Ethics allegations against Rep. Alex Mooney, we offer a look at actions the committee has presented to the full House for violations by other members.
Some are relatively trivial. One concerns misuse of campaign funds and one concerns misuse of Congressional office staff.
As we reported in a story last week, the committee may issue a Letter of Reproval directly to the member and end the matter there, with a report to the full House about the letter. As we reported, Rep. David McKinley received one in 2016 for failing to change the name of his engineering firm. The committee closed the matter with that letter.
But the committee may also recommend to the full House: denial or limitation of right, power, privilege or immunity; fine; reprimand; censure; expulsion. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote; the others require a majority vote.
On May 23, the committee issued a report on misdemeanor charges filed against Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., for driving with a revoked license and speeding in North Carolina. Cawthorn was among those participating in the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol and lost his primary race.
But this report did not touch on Jan. 6. The committee learned Cawthorn paid a fine to resolve one of the charges and intends to pay any fines associated with the remaining charges. The committee voted to take no further action.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., was arrested Jan. 20 for participating in a voting rights protest outside the U.S. Capitol and for what the panel termed Unauthorized Entry. In its February report, the committee said it planned no further action.
In August 2020, the committee issued a 63-page report about a 37-word tweet posted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., directed against former Trump attorney Michael Cohen on the day before Cohen was to address the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Gaetz apologized for the tweet later the same day.
An investigative subcommittee (ISC) probed whether the tweet constituted witness tampering and intimidation, and found the charge unsubstantiated. The ISC determined the tweet “did not meet the standards by which Members of the House should govern themselves” and the full committee issued an admonishment.
The case of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., dealt with salary payments she received from campaign funds after the 2018 general election. The committee determined that the violation “was one of bad timing and not ill intent. … The Committee did not find that she sought to unjustly enrich herself by receiving the campaign funds at issue.” In its August 2020 report it directed her to reimburse her campaign $10,800 out of the $17,500 in question.
The July 2020 report on Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., deals with misuse of campaign funds. Where the reports on Cawthorn and Bowman were a single page, this report is two volumes totaling 2,854 pages.
Among the charges, Schweikert may have used official resources to benefit his campaign or pressured congressional staff to perform political activity; he may have authorized compensation to an employee who did not perform duties commensurate with his House employment; he or his campaign committee may have received loans or gifts from a congressional employee; and he may have omitted required information from his annual House financial disclosure statements. A subsequent referral detailed additional charges. Among the specific charges, his former chief of staff made over $270,000 worth of impermissible outlays on behalf of Schweikert’s campaign and Schweikert misused campaign funds for personal purposes by accepting personal items from staff that were reimbursed by campaign funds.
Following negotiations with Schweikert’s counsel, the ISC unanimously voted to detail 11 violations. Schweikert agreed to admit to all 11 violations and waive all further procedural rights he was afforded under House and Committee rules. He was fined $50,000 and reprimanded.
Our final example deals with misuse of staff services, time and resources. This is a case where the committee could take no action because the Congressman retired and the committee lost jurisdiction.
The report — prepared by committee staff — comes from January 2019 regarding Rep. Thomas Garrett, R-Va. Several former members of Garrett’s staff said that his employees were treated as “personal servants” by Garrett and his wife, Flanna Garrett. Garrett made a public statement denouncing the allegations as “half-truths and whole lies,” and announced that he is an alcoholic and would not seek re-election.
The personal use of staff, the committee said, “resulted in a prioritization of Rep. Garrett’s and his wife’s personal needs over those of his constituents. The evidence also showed that Representative Garrett failed to appropriately compensate staff who performed personal services for him or his family.”
Some staffers were willing volunteers, but others felt pressured to assist him and his wife or risk losing their jobs, the committee said. There was frequent confusion among the staff about what was and was not permissible. “This confusion was exacerbated by bullying behavior from Mrs. Garrett, who responded with insults and profanity when staff questioned or displeased her.”
The evidence showed that Garrett misused official resources, including official staff time, for his and his family’s personal benefit; and improperly accepted gifts from his employees in the form of personal services for which he provided no compensation.
The report said that in such cases the member would be called on to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the value of those misused official resources and personally compensate staff for their gifts of personal services.
Although no action was possible in this case, the committee staff said, “Committee staff is concerned that other members of the House community may share his confusion. Committee staff hopes that this report will serve to clarify the appropriate uses of staff time and other official resources.”
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