Lorain/Elyria, OH
Kaptur named in House ethics probe
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WASHINGTON — Dozens of lawmakers have drawn scrutiny from their ethics monitor this year for everything from financial dealings to travel and campaign donations, according to a leaked account showing an active House panel secretly at work.
Seven of the lawmakers — four not previously known — serve on a defense appropriations subcommittee that divvies up money for Pentagon contractors. Among those named on the list is U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, who also represents part of Lorain County.
Most of the names and investigative subjects, mentioned in a summary of the ethics committee’s work last July, were known. But the summary — obtained by The Washington Post — shows the widespread scope of preliminary reviews and investigations the panel can have before it at any one time.
If anything, the document rebuts arguments of some watchdog groups that members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — the ethics committee — do little to investigate their colleagues.
The document shows the scrutiny involved some 30 members last summer, but it lumps together lawmakers who are subjects of a complete investigation with subpoena powers with those who may simply have asked for a ruling on a proposed trip to be financed by a private sponsor. Full investigations by an investigative subcommittee are announced publicly.
Committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and ranking Republican Jo Bonner of Alabama, went further than usual on June 11 by announcing they were examining the conduct of some lawmakers on the defense panel, even though no investigative panel was formed.
Members of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee had steered targeted appropriations called earmarks to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm — PMA — and received contributions from the firm and its clients.
The names of defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., and Democratic members Jim Moran of Virginia and Peter Visclosky of Indiana had previously surfaced in connection with the inquiry.
The document adds the names of Kaptur, Norm Dicks, D-Wash.; ranking subcommittee Republican C.W. Bill Young of Florida and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.
All four have received campaign contributions from PMA’s political action committee and employees. Donation figures compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics show that:
- PMA’s PAC and employees together were the single biggest source of political money to Dicks in each election cycle from 2003 through 2008 when donations are analyzed by the givers’ employers. Dicks received roughly $89,500 from them during that period.
- The lobbying firm’s PAC and staff also were Kaptur’s top single source of donations by employer during the 2008 election cycle. Collectively, they gave her about $28,500 for the last election and $12,500 for the 2006 election, a total of about $41,000. They gave her nothing in 2003-04.
- Tiahrt raised roughly $19,750 from PMA’s PAC and employees from 2003 through 2008.
- Young collected about $9,250 from the 2003-04 election cycle through last year.
The Pentagon budget panel had such an allure for Kaptur that in 2005 she gave up her party’s top seat on the agriculture subcommittee to claim a rare open seat on Murtha’s subcommittee. She would have become one of a dozen Appropriations subcommittee chairpeople had she stayed put.
Steve Fought, a spokesman for Kaptur, said his boss expected to be cleared.
“The congresswoman has always emphasized openness and transparency, and it almost goes without saying she will continue to cooperate,’’ he said. “She’s saying there was no quid pro quo.’’
Fought called the list of investigations becoming public a security breach and said it was unfortunate.
Fought said Kaptur, who along with two of her staffers who have been interviewed by the Office of Congressional Ethics, was included on the list because she was on the committee and had asked for earmarks for companies that did business for PMA. But that doesn’t mean there was any wrongdoing, he said.
“Sometimes we were aware of it and sometimes we weren’t,” Fought said.
Kaptur will continue to cooperate with the investigation, he said.
“The fact is that Marcy doesn’t have anything to hide,” he said.
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People need to understand why this is happening. Marcy Kaptur has been outspoken about auditing the Federal Reserve. And has taken on the banks head on. She met with a bank that was causing the highest foreclosures in her area and she demanded action. She is one of the only Democrats who has had the guts to do this. This whole investigation of her is garbage. She ticked the bankers off and now they are going to create an ethics violation. We have to stay behind her and not allow them to ruin her career with hyped up charges. Marcy is an excellent Congresswoman. She’s got guts.
http://www.pyrabang.com/view.php?ref=THX1138&post_id=41990
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Concerning Ladalang’s comments, as a person who pays their mortgage, I support banks foreclosing on those who don’t–that’s why we call it “a loan.” Due to liberal policies, banks were forced by the government to lend money to people who had no hope of ever paying it back. As the article indicates, the Congress has been hesitant to investigate its own, so I don’t think that we should look lightly on this Kaptur ethics investigation. How is it that Marcy Kaptur’s district can have among the highest unemployment rate in Ohio, businesses and citizens are leaving in significant numbers, and the highest utilities rates in the country and somehow Kaptur is not to blame? She needs to be replaced in 2010 with a representative who listens to her/his constituents.
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So Mary we are to blame Marcy for our bad economy? Not the fact that our industry base has left? Please.
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I’d blame the Ohio General Assembly for the bad economy. There are a lot of reasons why the economy is worse in Ohio than it is in Texas or other states: Tax climate, energy deregulation, over-burdening unions (not all unions are bad), poor education system, and a host of other factors.
I do not buy for one second that the ethics probe is because Kaptur has angered the banks. However, this is just a probe, not a conviction.
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“Due to liberal policies, banks were forced by the government to lend money to people who had no hope of ever paying it ”
HA!
Those poor Bankers forced to sell & resell mortgages for profit under deregulation.
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Kaptur is just another nitwit politician.
If you think the government is here to take care of you then I’m sure you vote for aholes like Kaptur.
I hope they find her guilty and throw her in jail. But that’ll never happen.
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Government liberal policies ‘forcing” banks to make bad loans? That is either extremely ignorant or a flat out lie. Most of this happened under Bush’s 8 years. To quote Bush” I want every american to own a home.” Mary, you sound exactly like a typical partisan. By the way the word liberal derives from the words liberty or to liberate. Liberal in the connotation you are using it is just as bad as conservative in the connotation I use that word. They both have run roughshod over the original American constitution.
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I would blame a lot of Presidents and politicians for this mess. I’d also blame the American people for some rather poor choices when it comes to personal finance. These poor choices can be reflected in record bankruptcies, credit card defaults, and the low savings rate.
We also have to remember that businesses and banks are out there to make a buck. Sometimes they use methods that are not ethical or in the best interest of their customers or the country. Here is a good quote from Clarence Darrow, “The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.”
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