Congresswoman Laura Richardson
9:00am | Long Beach Congresswoman Laura Richardson may face a “full-scale” investigation by the House Ethics Committee according to Politico, a Washington, D.C.-based newspaper citing “several sources close to the matter.”
In March, the Politico covered a Press-Telegram story about Maria Angel Macias, a former district staffer for Congresswoman Laura Richardson, spoke with the Press-Telegram about a letter proving several of Richardson’s staffers were required to “volunteer” their time to work on her most recent re-election campaign. Macias also said that she scheduled Richardson’s campaign-related activities on the taxpayer dime.
Richardson repeatedly denied that she is again being probed by federal investigators, but Macias said that multiple 37th Congressional District staff members, including herself, have been deposed by ethics investigators and that Richardson paid for an attorney to be present during each session.
In March, Richardson’s spokesman, Communications Director Ray Zaccaro, told the Press-Telegram via e-mail that “no employee in this office has ever been required to perform any work on the campaign.”
According to yesterday’s Politico article, Ethics Committee staffers have been digging into the claims against Richardson since last year as part of a “preliminary inquiry” by the panel, and they have been interviewing current and former Richardson aides. The investigators are looking into allegations that Richardson and some of her most senior staffers pressured other aides to work on her reelection campaign or be fired, according to these sources and news reports. Staffers on the congressional payroll are banned from working on political campaigns during official time, and no House resources can be used for campaign-related activities, according to House rules and federal statute.