Ethics Panel Takes Action in 3 Cases (Reps. Jean Schmidt, John Lewis, Luis Gutierrez)

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Representative Jean Schmidt, Republican of Ohio, has been ordered by the House Ethics Committee to repay a Turkish-American group $500,000 for legal services it improperly paid for to help her pursue a defamation lawsuit and other legal proceedings against a Democratic opponent in the 2008 election.

The action by the House committee, disclosed Friday, did not come with a formal punishment, because ethics investigators concluded that Ms. Schmidt had been misled by her own lawyers from the Turkish American Legal Defense Fund about who was paying the legal bills.

Ms. Schmidt was ordered to amend her annual personal financial disclosure reports to acknowledge the gift from the Turkish Coalition of America, which actually paid the bills, and then reimburse the lawyers.

In other action announced Friday, the House Ethics Committee admonished Michael Collins, an aide to Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine for failing to disclose $54,000 worth of payments he had received for working on Mr. Lewis’s re-election campaigns over five years and for failing to pay income taxes on the money.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/us/politics/06ethics.html

[JI7]

1. not john lewis but some guy who worked for him and didn't report his income

[PatSeg]

2. And the investigation into Gutierrez was dismissed

It had to do with his arrest and participation in the political protest at the White House. Looks like Schmidt is the one with real "ethics" issues.

[No Elephants]

3. Maybe, but the Republican House has let her off the hook entirely.

[PatSeg]

11. I keep forgetting that there is a different

set of rules for republicans.

[No Elephants]

4. Given the alibi that got Schmidt off the hook, someone needs to prosecute her lawyers and also

to try to get them disbarred.

Lying to a Congresswoman about who is paying her legal fees, when she is suing over defamation on the very same issue?

I don't know if Schmidt's lawyers lied to her or if Schmidt lied about her lawyers. I'm sure someone lied, though. And going after the lawyers is the likeliest way to find out just who is or was lying.

Maybe her lawyers will end up suing her for defamation. But it shouldn't just end with her being let off the hook.

[iamthebandfanman]

5. wish they would, then the truth might come out.

one things for sure about mean jean, shes a lying flying wingbat of the highest degree

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Misleading headline.John Lewis did nothing wrong. It was an aid.

[Enrique]

7. also the "action" taken on Gutierrez was to DISMISS the case

the supposed ethics case against him involved his being arrested for protesting. Wtf does that have to do with ethics?

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Headling is false. No 'case' involving John Lewis at all.

Additionally, the headline at NYT does not cit the three names.

[SemperEadem]

9. your subject is misleading, by the 4 paragraphs you've copied

you might want to amend it.

[alp227]

10. well the cases are ABOUT those representatives

I never implied that they all actually did any wrongdoing, that's why we should actually READ articles.