David M. Rivera

FBI, IRS Investigating Rep. Rivera For Possible Tax Evasion

Ryan J. Reilly | July 25, 2011, 11:10AM

Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)

Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) is facing a federal investigation over allegations he didn't pay taxes on a secret million-dollar contract he signed in 2006 between as casino and a company started by his mother, the Associated Press reported.

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Ken Ard

Grand Jury To Investigate Playstation-Buying SC Lt. Governor

Jillian Rayfield | July 22, 2011, 6:02AM

SC Lieut. Gov. Ken Ard (R)

The case of Ken Ard (R), the South Carolina Lieutenant Governor who admitted to using campaign funds to buy items like iPads and a Playstation, has been sent to a grand jury for an investigation.

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Ethics

Watt, House GOP Leaders, Plan Sneak Attack On Ethics Office

Susan Crabtree | July 21, 2011, 12:23PM

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC)

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), with the help of Republicans leaders, is launching a sneak attack on the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the only quasi-independent ethics watchdog policing the behavior of members of Congress.

Watt, a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus, may be looking for some retribution against the office for investigating him last year. Along with a bipartisan group of several other members, Watt was part of a wide-ranging OCE probe into the propriety of holding fundraising events with big players in the financial sector within days -- or even on the very day -- of a vote on the Wall Street reform bill. He and the other members were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing but not before the investigation leaked to the press and he and the other members made "under investigation" headlines.

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Ethics Panel

Conflicted Out? Bonner To Control $500K For Waters Special Prosecutor

Susan Crabtree | July 20, 2011, 4:47PM

Watchdogs are busy extolling the Ethics Committee decision earlier Wednesday to hire an outside counsel to investigate the case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), as well as allegations that its own staff and members engaged in a pattern of prosecutorial abuse.

But a review of the special prosecutor's contract, obtained by TPM, raises new conflict-of-interest questions for the beleaguered ethics panel.

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Maxine Waters

Ethics Hires Special Prosecutor For Waters' Case Amid Turmoil

Susan Crabtree | July 20, 2011, 1:09PM

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

The House Ethics Committee has hired a special prosecutor to handle the case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), a two-year investigation that has become mired in allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and partisan maneuvering.

The panel announced the hire of Billy Martin, a partner at the Washington office of Dorsey & Whitney, in a lengthy statement Wednesday, which came in the wake of an unprecedented document leak airing the committee's dirty laundry in excruciating detail. It was a unanimous decision, the panel said.

The scores of Ethics Committee e-mails and memos, reported by Politico Monday with links to the documents, paint a picture of a committee consumed by partisan dysfunction and accusations of professional misconduct surrounding Waters' case.

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Ethics

Watchdogs: Bonner Has To Go To Fix Broken House Ethics System

Susan Crabtree | July 19, 2011, 4:56PM

Reps. Jo Bonner (R-AL) and Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Ethics watchdogs are calling on Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) to step down as chairman of the House Ethics Committee -- at least temporarily -- for his role in the ongoing turmoil over Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-CA) case.

"I think there needs to be an investigation into the whole matter, including Mr. Bonner's role and that Mr. Bonner should step aside during the course of that investigation," Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told TPM Tuesday. "If Mr. Bonner is found to have broken the committee's rules, he should be sanctioned by the full House."

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Eric Massa

He's Baaaack. House Ethics Committee Votes To Continue Massa Case

Susan Crabtree | July 15, 2011, 2:54PM

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY)

When Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) left Congress amid a cloud of charges that he inappropriately touched and sexually harassed a male staffer, most of his Democratic colleagues hoped the issue would fade away -- or at least disappear from public view.

But the House Ethics Committee announced Friday that it has voted to continue an investigation it began last year.

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Ken Ard

SC Attorney General May Investigate Lt. Gov. Who Spent Campaign Cash On A Playstation

Jillian Rayfield | July 8, 2011, 6:00AM

SC Lieut. Gov. Ken Ard (R)

S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) is reviewing the case of Lieutenant Gov. Ken Ard (R), following a settlement between Ard and the state's Ethics Commission over his illegal campaign expenditures on, among other things, a Playstation, women's clothing, and his wife's cell phone bill.

Wilson requested Ard's file this week "to determine what, if any, prosecutorial action may be warranted," spokesman Mark Plowden said, The State reports. But, Plowden said, "this Review should not be confused with an 'investigation,' in that we have not asked any law enforcement agency to do so at this time. We do not have a time frame."

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

Ethics Committee Can't Sweep Turmoil Over Waters Case Under The Rug

Susan Crabtree | July 5, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Ethics experts say the House still has a lot of explaining to do when it comes to its handling of the corruption case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) last fall, which resulted in partisan backbiting, deep mistrust between Republicans and Democrats on the panel and the suspension of the lead attorney and an assistant a week before the matter was set to go to public trial.

The ethics panel has been at a virtual standstill for eight months since its internal dissension exploded onto the headlines of political publications and the Washington Post in early December. On Friday the panel announced it was extending separate investigations into Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY), Jean Schmidt (R-OH), and two aides, but a source said the committee was forced to continue those probes because it had yet to begin looking into the matters in earnest.

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South Carolina

SC Lt. Gov. Reimburses Campaign For Cash Spent On Playstation, Women's Clothes

Jillian Rayfield | July 1, 2011, 3:48PM

SC Lieut. Gov. Ken Ard (R)

South Carolina Lt. Governor Ken Ard (R) has settled his 107 ethics violations with the State Ethics Commission, and agreed to pay a $48,400 fine, cover the cost of the investigation, and reimburse his campaign for $12,121 in illegal expenditures.

Among those expenditures, Corey Hutchins of the South Carolina Free Times reports, was Ard's wife's phone bill and more than $3000 at Best Buy for a "Playstation 3, a flat-screen TV, an iPod Touch 8G, and two 3G iPads." Ard initially claimed the purchases were "computer equip" for "campaign and office-related purposes."

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