Experts Weigh In On Latest Mooney Ethics Report
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By STEVEN ALLEN ADAMS
For the Sunday News-Register
CHARLESTON -- The leader of a watchdog group and a former member of Congress who sees similarities between himself and Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., both believe that the 2nd District Congressman should take a review of allegations made by the Office of Congressional Ethics seriously.
The OCE turned over the second of two investigative reports on Mooney to the House Ethics Committee at the end of 2021. The committee released the second OCE report May 23.
OCE investigators accuse Mooney of taking a week-long family vacation to Aruba on the dime of a campaign contractor and donor's company and using that same company's house near Capitol Hill for official functions and campaign work.
Mooney is accused of using congressional and campaign staff for a litany of personal errands, including babysitting and transporting his three children, helping with school projects, maintenance of personal vehicles, helping Mooney's wife with business issues and more. Staff would allegedly have to complete these tasks while doing their official duties and were often uncompensated for their time or expenses while carrying out these errands.
Lastly, the report alleges Mooney obstructed OCE investigators, lied during testimony and doctored evidence. Investigators pointed out several times in the report that Mooney was uncooperative in providing testimony or required documents, and believe that Mooney possibly withheld and concealed information, and allegedly altered official calendars.
According to a previous OCE report submitted to the House Ethics Committee last August and released in October, investigators allege Mooney used campaign donations for personal purchases, trips outside his district, food, his personal car and more.
The OCE accused Mooney of improperly spending more than $40,000 since 2017 while paying back the campaign more than $12,000 after the allegations came to light.
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For former congressman and radio talk show host Bob Ney, the issues surrounding Mooney's Aruba trip felt similar to issues he had.
"The trip is the biggie, and I speak from experience on trips, having imploded over a trip to Scotland," Ney said by phone Thursday.
Ney, a Republican who represented Ohio's 18th House District from 1995 until 2006 and was chairman of the House Administration Committee, pleaded guilty to federal charges including honest services fraud, making false statements and making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Jack Abramoff lobbyist scandal.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ney was sentenced in 2007 to 30 months in prison, fined $6,000, and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service for his part in the Abramoff scandal, where he admitted to taking bribes from Abramoff. One of the gifts to Ney was a trip to Scotland, including golf, entertainment, and food.
"It's interesting because there were two members … who took that trip to Scotland independent of me who reimbursed that trip," Ney said. "I never reimbursed the trip because I felt that it wasn't to be reimbursed, that I had reported the trip. It was underfunded (when) reported because we were told one figure, but if I had reimbursed it, I don't know if I would've been spared what happened to me or not."
According to the OCE report, Mooney enlisted his congressional staff in planning the Aruba trip and did not consult with the House Ethics Committee before proceeding with it, something investigators said raised eyebrows with Mooney staff. The trip was supposed to be for HSP Direct employees who met sales goals, with Mooney, his wife Grace, and their three children being the only non-employees on the trip.
Mooney has since claimed through a spokesperson that he fully reimbursed HSP, a direct mail company whose owner is a friend of Mooney's, for the cost of the trip, estimated by the OCE to be at least $10,804. But Ney said if the trip was never approved by the House Ethics Committee, reimbursing HSP after the fact may not matter.
"Did (Mooney) file the trip in the first place? The Ethics Committee will look at that," Ney said. "If he didn't file the trip, then he took the trip and the trip is not able to be deemed an official trip or a campaign trip, then the question is, whether the reimbursement is going to be accepted after the fact. That's going to be up to the Ethics Committee."
Ney said the House Ethics Committee upon further review could turn over specific matters to federal agencies, such as the Federal Election Commission for alleged campaign finance violations or the Department of Justice for any potential criminal violations. Ney said the committee will definitely want to look into any issues where OCE investigators claim lack of cooperation, lying or doctoring of evidence.
As for use of congressional and campaign staff for personal errands outside the scope of their official duties on work time, Ney said it will all depend on the degree and severity. As former chairman of the House Administration Committee -- the committee that provides funding for congressional staffing and expenses -- Ney said use of staff for personal errands was a constant issue.
"A lot of staff want to do that. They get some attention and they want to do it, but it goes into different levels," Ney said. "If they're doing personal services -- like painting the house, doing homework for the kids, researching things for the family -- that's a whole different world. Now, if they were doing it on their own time, that's OK as long as they weren't forced to. The Ethics Committee is going to look at the personal situation of the staffers and what they are saying. If it was to turn out that they were doing personal services, then that's not going to be very good."
Ney said the House Ethics Committee can go three different routes: they can seek to censure Mooney, which would allow him to remain in Congress; the committee can offer a recommendation to expel Mooney from Congress, a rare move used most recently in 2002 against former Ohio Democratic Congressman James Traficant after his federal conviction on charges of accepting bribes, filing false tax returns, and also using staff for personal errands; or the matter can be turned over to federal authorities.
"Who knows the outcome of all this, but it is absolutely something that if I were sitting there, I would definitely -- especially what I know now -- take seriously," Ney said.
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Noah Bookbinder is president and chief executive officer of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (C.R.E.W.). The nonprofit organization has spent much of the last several years focused on ethical issues with former president Donald Trump and Trump administration officials, but C.R.E.W. still monitors Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
C.R.E.W. spent much of the late 2000s investigating former West Virginia Democratic 1st District Congressman Alan Mollohan based on allegations he steered earmarks to five nonprofit organizations who then turned around and helped contributors to Mollohan's political campaigns. The Department of Justice closed a criminal investigation with no charges filed.
Mollohan lost his Democratic primary in 2010, with Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., winning election and serving for six terms. After McKinley and Mooney's districts were combined in redistricting, Mooney defeated McKinley in the May 10 Republican primary for the new 2nd Congressional District.
Bookbinder said the two OCE investigations of Mooney include a combination of allegations covering a range of offenses members of Congress have run afoul of over the years.
"I think this looks serious," Bookbinder said. "What strikes me in looking at this report is it's kind of like a greatest hits of recent congressional scandals. You've got using campaign funds for personal activities. You've got taking gifts from vendors and outside companies. You've got having office staff doing personal favors. These are all the things that we've seen in individual cases, but having them all in the same case is pretty unusual."
Bookbinder said it's becoming more commonplace for congressional lawmakers to not cooperate with OCE, which doesn't have the legal authority to compel testimony or demand documents.
"I think a lot of members kind of feel like if they just don't go along with it at all, it's going to be hard for the committee to prove anything and to act, and that they can just sort of keep their heads down and the whole thing will go away," Bookbinder said. "That's become more common than it should be. And sometimes it works."
The OCE reports to the House Ethics Committee - evenly divided between five Republicans and five Democrats - who can decide to impanel a subcommittee to further investigate OCE allegations and levy fines or other punishments. While lawmakers can push back against OCE, the House Ethics Committee could be more inclined to investigate because of lack of cooperation with OCE.
"When it looks like there may be efforts to actually change evidence or lie or obstruct an investigation, that takes it to a whole other level," Bookbinder said. "If that ends up being something that's substantiated, that's serious. The Ethics Committee is generally known for being somewhat reluctant to act against members, but that's the kind of thing that could spur them to act when maybe they wouldn't otherwise."
In a statement last week, the House Ethics Committee said it is still reviewing the matters regarding Mooney and gathering additional information.