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Tag: ethics complaint
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

McCarthy Skirted Ethics Rules To Rent Pollster’s Luxury Pad

Reprinted with permission from American Independent

A watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, accusing him of lying about a luxury apartment he rented from a top Republican pollster. This comes as he works to remove the only woman on his leadership team for telling the truth about Donald Trump.

The Campaign for Accountability asked the Office of Congressional Ethics on Friday to investigate whether the California Republican broke House rules by renting a room in Frank Luntz's Washington, D.C., condominium at below-market rates — which could have been an illegal and unreported gift.

"House ethics rules are clear and Representative McCarthy is no neophyte. As leader of the House Republicans, he should be setting an example for his caucus, not trying to skirt the rules," Michelle Kuppersmith, the group's executive director, said in a press release. "If he violated the gift rule, he must be held accountable."

McCarthy's office did not immediately respond to an inquiry for this story.

But McCarthy told Fox News last week that he had "rented a room from Frank for a couple of months" — an agreement that likely violated the property's bylaws, according to the Washington Post.

"Don't worry, I'm back to — going back to where I normally am, on my couch in my office. But, yes, we pay fair market rate," he claimed.

Last Tuesday, a McCarthy spokesperson told a right-wing outlet: "McCarthy rented a room of approximately 400 square feet, and under House Ethics guidelines, calculated the fair market amount at $1,500/month by comparing what other members of Congress were also paying to live in the building and additional comparables for the space in the building and neighborhood."

But Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted Tuesday that similar spaces in Luntz's building run between $1,675 and $2,300 a month and homeowners' association fees run nearly $5,000 a month, per unit — covering the costs of a roof-top pool, round the clock concierge, and other amenities. That apparent gap would constitute a gift from Luntz to McCarthy.

These ethics allegations come as McCarthy is leading the charge to removeHouse Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney from her post as the number-three House GOP official. Her crimes: She admitted that Trump lost the 2020 election and then worked to hold him accountable for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

McCarthy, who once also acknowledged Trump's culpability for the attacks but has since reverted to being a staunch defender of the twice-impeached one-termer, is mad that Cheney has not followed his lead.

"Having heard from so many of you in recent days, it's clear that we need to make a change. As such, you should anticipate a vote on recalling the Conference Chair this Wednesday," he told his caucus on Monday.

In the past, McCarthy has occasionally tried to present himself as a defender of congressional ethics.

In 2016, he called the House Ethics Committee chair position an "important role for this institution & our country."

Citing optics, he framed himself as an opponent of an effort to gut the outside Office of Congressional Ethics in 2017.

In February 2019, he said in a press release that "Members on the Ethics Committee are charged with guarding the institution of the House of Representatives."

He has also called out Democratic colleagues who he believed crossed ethical lines, often trying to boot them from powerful positions.

Though he had not been accused of any wrongdoing, McCarthy unsuccessfully tried to remove Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from his seat of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in March, vaguely citing classified information about Swalwell's ties to an alleged Chinese spy.

Since the 2019 impeachment inquiry, he also has repeatedly demanded Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) lose his chairmanship of the intelligence panel and called for him to be censured for accurately describing Trump's call with the Ukrainian president.

McCarthy has, thus far, not stepped aside from his position.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.

House Ethics Committee Won’t Open Formal Probe Into McMorris Rodgers

House Ethics Committee Won’t Open Formal Probe Into McMorris Rodgers

By Kyung M. Song, The Seattle Times

WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee on Monday declined to open a formal investigation into allegations that U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers misused her campaign and congressional funds — a decision that rules out potential ethics charges or sanctions against the Washington state Republican for now.

However, two lawmakers on the bipartisan panel will continue reviewing the complaints, which were filed in 2013 by Todd Winer, McMorris Rodgers’ former spokesman.

It’s possible, though not likely, the committee could later impanel an investigative subcommittee to determine whether McMorris Rodgers broke federal laws and rules governing the separation of official funds from taxpayers and campaign funds from political donors.

Among Winer’s allegations, made public Monday, were that McMorris Rodgers’ congressional staff worked on her re-election campaign on the public’s time and dime, and that she hired a consultant to help her with media appearances and other duties related to her office but paid him out of her campaign treasury.

The Ethics Committee’s decision comes three months after a separate entity, the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, found “substantial merit” to Winer’s allegations. The OCE’s board voted 6-0 to refer the case to the ethics panel, which has subpoena authority.

Elliot Berke, an attorney for McMorris Rodgers, said in a statement he expects the Ethics Committee’s continued review eventually will find no wrongdoing. He ascribed the decision not to drop the case entirely to the fact that a full review couldn’t be wrapped up in the 90 days the committee was allowed.

“We remain confident that, in time, the committee will dismiss the complaint, which was based on frivolous allegations from a single source — a former employee who then discredited himself by admitting to his own improper conduct,” Berke said.

McMorris Rodgers is a fiscal and social conservative and the No. 4 House Republican leader.

Winer was passed over for promotion as her communications director in her leadership office and was let go from her congressional office shortly after in January 2013.

Her congressional staff had previously described Winer’s allegations as primarily concerning improper commingling of campaign and official funds during her successful 2012 race for the House Republican Conference chairmanship against Rep. Tom Price of Georgia. House rules permit members to tap either campaign or official funds for leadership contests, but not both.

But the main thrust of the OCE’s findings, which the ethics panel was required to release, dealt with instances where McMorris Rodgers’ congressional staff members were allegedly enlisted to help with her re-election for a fifth term in November 2012.

For instance, the report said McMorris Rodgers’ chief of staff, Winer and other aides spent their work hours prepping her for campaign debates and writing debate speeches. In October 2012, four aides flew from Washington, D.C., to Spokane for a week of what the OCE concluded were mostly campaign-related events. Their airfare, meals and other travel expenses totaling $4,794 were picked up by McMorris Rodgers’ congressional office.

The OCE also listed several other instances of her aides dealing with re-election strategies and preparations — including a trip to the Republican National Convention — while on the clock for their congressional jobs.

The OCE also alleged McMorris Rodgers used a political-action committee she controls to pay for a GOP consultant she hired in April 2012 to coach her on congressional television interviews and other media appearances.

The consultant, Brett O’Donnell, told the OCE his work was unrelated to her campaign. Yet the OCE concluded O’Donnell was paid $16,000 for eight months of work out of CMR PAC, a leadership PAC set up by McMorris Rodgers.

Photo: Republican Conference via Flickr