Dems Confront Ethics Scandals

House Democrats will likely have to confront a pair of ethics scandals before Election Day, despite early hopes that problems involving former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) could be dispensed with well before the November midterms.

Experts say the House ethics committee is likely to issue a report within a few months as to whether Democratic leadership offices properly handled complaints that Massa was sexually harassing members of his staff.

Massa’s resignation last month closed the book on an initial investigation focused on the complaints themselves. But in response to new information that at least two Democratic leadership offices knew of such complaints weeks before they became public, the ethics panel last week announced that it was re-opening and expanding the probe to include a look at how those — and potentially other — offices handled them.

Robert L. Walker, a former chief counsel and staff director of both the Senate and House ethics committees, said the Massa investigation would probably end with a report being issued by the end of July at the latest.

A report released in that timeframe, regardless of its content, would revive the issue just as Democrats are heading into the August work period — a critical month in an election cycle the party acknowledges will be difficult at best.

Read more: (Jared Allen and Susan Crabtree, “Campaigning House Dems May have to Confront Ethics Scandals,” The Hill, 04/27/10)