rssOCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts
Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 3:36 pm
- 27 Comments
At what point does a campaign contribution cross over from Washington status quo to illegal quid pro quo? That’s what the Office of Congressional Ethics has been attempting to probe in its ongoing investigation into eight House members who solicited and received large campaign contributions from the financial services industry immediately before and even during the debate on the financial regulation bill adopted by the House last December:
For example, on Dec. 10, one of the lawmakers under investigation, Representative Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, left the Capitol during the House debate to attend a fund-raising event for him hosted by a lobbyist at her nearby Capitol Hill town house that featured financial firms, along with other donors. After collecting thousands of dollars in checks, Mr. Crowley returned to the floor of the House just in time to vote against a series of amendments that would have imposed tougher restrictions on Wall Street.
That same day, Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican on the Financial Services Committee, scheduled what he called a “Financial Services Luncheon” at the Capitol Hill Club, as part of a fund-raising push that netted him nearly $23,000 in contributions from the industry in a two-month period around the vote.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent office, led by a former federal prosecutor, that has been riling members on the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct with its aggressive pursuit of what it considers unethical conduct. The New York Times notes that given the two groups’ differences, it’s unlikely that the committee will punish any of the accused members even if the investigation ends up recommending action.
Follow Jesse Zwick on Twitter27 Comments
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 3:56 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 4:07 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by CyG_everything, WashIndependent. WashIndependent said: OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services Fundraising Efforts – http://bit.ly/aqletD [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 4:14 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … ArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArray [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 4:52 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 5:11 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 5:14 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 5:53 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 6:52 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 7:12 pm
[...] original post here: OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … Comments [...]
Comment posted July 15, 2010 @ 8:52 pm
[I]t’s unlikely that the committee will punish any of the accused members even if the investigation ends up recommending action.
That quote sums up “Congressional Ethics” about as well as any.
Or, possibly http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C94AB02D-18FE-70B2-A8E6B7C3A71AF3EC:
Taxpayers have paid out nearly $1 million per year in settlements to congressional employees who have been harassed or otherwise treated badly by their political bosses over the past 14 years, according to records from the Office of Compliance.
[...]
For privacy reasons, the details of all these cases — including the names of the victims and the alleged harassers — are almost never made public. Lawmakers, regardless of whether they are guilty of workplace violations, do not pay a dime for the settlements, while taxpayers foot the bill for the lawyers.
Pingback posted July 15, 2010 @ 10:01 pm
[...] View full post on The Washington Independent [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 12:59 am
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts « Th… [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 1:54 am
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … // [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 2:44 am
[...] See the rest here: OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 4:18 am
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts « Th… [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 1:36 pm
[...] lawmakers' fundraisersPoliticoFund-Raising Before House Vote Draws ScrutinyNew York TimesOCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services Fundraising …The Washington IndependentPolitics Daily (blog) -Gawker -Truthdigall 28 news [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
[...] lawmakers' fundraisersPoliticoFund-Raising Before House Vote Draws ScrutinyNew York TimesOCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services Fundraising …The Washington IndependentBusinessWeek -Politics Daily (blog) -Gawkerall 30 news [...]
Pingback posted July 16, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts « Th… [...]
Pingback posted July 18, 2010 @ 5:31 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts « Th… [...]
Pingback posted July 18, 2010 @ 8:29 pm
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen’s Financial Services Fundraising Efforts « Th… [...]
Comment posted July 19, 2010 @ 8:03 am
This Congressional Ethics is a body designed to endorse the legitimized bribery by insuring the pay-offs are channeled through only the approved forms of bribery.
Pingback posted July 22, 2010 @ 6:43 am
[...] OCE Investigation Probes Eight Congressmen's Financial Services … [...]
Pingback posted September 8, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
[...] House Democrats, as well, are hardly pleased with the new office, especially members who faced a recent investigation into their conduct on the eve of the financial reform vote in December, as well as members of the [...]
Pingback posted September 9, 2010 @ 4:36 am
[...] House Democrats, as well, are hardly pleased with the new office, especially members who faced a recent investigation into their conduct on the eve of the financial reform vote in December, as well as members of the [...]
Trackback posted November 25, 2010 @ 5:58 am
This is my problem…
Amazingly website, I like how your page looks! The layout is great!…
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
