DEMOCRAT DIRTY LAUNDRY: Richardson Ignores House Rules, Accused of Bullying Staff and Again Forcing Them to Work Illegally on Campaign Activities

Richardson Ignores House Rules, Accused of Bullying Staff and Again Forcing Them to Work Illegally on Campaign Activities

House Voted Unanimously Just Last Month to Reprimand Richardson for Unethical Conduct 

SPIN CYCLE: Then-Speaker Pelosi Promised that Democrats Would “Demand the Highest Ethics from Every Public Servant”:

“Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.” (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21)

RINSE CYCLE: Ethics Committee Warns Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) About Bullying Staff, Continues to Receive Reports About Her Abusing Official Resources by Improperly Pressuring Government Staff to Work Illegally on Her Campaign:

Rep. Laura Richardson has been accused of retaliating against and intimidating aides who cooperated with the ethics investigation that led to her reprimand by the House, according to two explosive letters the Ethics Committee sent to Richardson that have been obtained by POLITICO.

The panel warned the California Democrat that it is continuing its investigation into her operation and could turn the House probe over to the Justice Department if the accusations prove true.

On Aug. 2, the full House, acting on the Ethics Committee’s recommendation, unanimously voted to reprimand Richardson for improperly pressuring her government staff to work on her campaign — a big no-no for federal officials. She was also reprimanded for using official House resources, including aides, for personal errands, as well as obstructing the ethics investigation. She was fined $10,000.

But even after this official punishment, the committee continued to receive allegations of misconduct by Richardson, after she accepted the rebuke on the House floor in a dramatic scene just before Congress left Washington for its annual August recess.

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Tough bosses are common on the Hill, but the complaints about Richardson’s conduct toward her staff are legendary. As POLITICO first reported, one former aide told the panel she’d “rather be at war in Afghanistan” than keep working for the lawmaker. At times, as the House found in reprimanding Richardson last month, her behavior crossed into territory that broke House rules. Now, Ethics is raising the stakes to a higher level.

In thinly veiled language, Bonner and Sanchez suggested that the Justice Department would be contacted if the panel’s investigators came to the conclusion that Richardson might have broken laws.

“If any intimidating and/or retaliatory conduct does occur, you may leave the committee little choice but to take the most serious and swift actions available to it consistent with House and committee rules. Those options may include possible referral for remedial measures to other authorities,” they wrote.

The letter, originally sent confidentially to Richardson, didn’t stop new allegations from rolling in. The most compelling: An aide at the center of the committee’s original findings against Richardson was fired three weeks after the House reprimand and about a week after the committee wrote to Richardson to warn her about intimidating aides.

Richardson gave another reason for firing Makeda Scott — and consulted with a House employment office about it — according to sources familiar with the matter and the committee’s second letter to Richardson. But some sources believe Scott was fired as payback for her cooperation with the Ethics Committee.

The panel was so concerned about that possibility — and other new accusations of misconduct by Richardson — that it not only sent the second letter to Richardson on Sept. 12 but also took the unusual step of releasing both letters to her current and former aides “because allegations have been raised that you have been discouraging your staff from contacting the committee directly” even after the Aug. 15 letter.

“Ms. Scott provided testimony that the ISC and the committee relied upon in reaching their conclusions that you had, in fact, violated House rules, laws and other standards of conduct,” Bonner and Sanchez wrote last week. “The committee has received allegations that you fired Ms. Scott in retaliation for her testimony before the ISC. The committee takes very seriously any allegation of an attempt to intimidate or retaliate against persons who cooperate with its investigations, and will react swiftly to determine if such allegations are true.”

But it wasn’t just Scott’s case that had raised eyebrows at the committee, according to the letter.

“[T]he committee has continued to receive allegations that you have ignored House rules, laws, regulations and other standards of conduct regarding the necessary separation between official and campaign matters,” Bonner and Sanchez wrote.

“In addition, the committee has received reports that since your reprimand, you have discouraged your staff from contacting the committee directly,” they wrote. “That we continue to receive reports and allegations regarding your conduct is very troubling.”

The committee’s Aug. 15 letter was clear about how Richardson could avoid further scrutiny — and whose side it is on when it comes to disputes between the congresswoman and her staff about her behavior.

“[W]e urge you, in the strongest terms possible, to focus on your own conduct, to steer clear of any appearance of impropriety, to take your staff’s concerns as seriously as possible, and to end all possibly intimidating, retaliatory or otherwise improper conduct towards your staff immediately,” Bonner and Sanchez wrote. “This committee will strongly support your staff in all of their efforts to either report or avoid being implicated in any past, present, or future misconduct.” (Jonathan Allen, “Rep. Laura Richardson accused of ethics retaliation,” Politico, 9/18/2012)

To read the entire story, click here.

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