UPDATE Thursday, June 30, 6:45am | Congresswoman Laura Richardson is carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign debt ($454,000 as of March 2011) according to Roll Call this morning. With less than $36,000 on hand, Richardson “…has reported hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills because of a host of ethics allegations that have swirled around her office, depleting her campaign account and creating substantial personal financial liabilities for the California Democrat,” according to the article.
Click here to read the article.
UPDATE Tuesday, June 28, 3:32pm | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — the group that today contacted the FBI requesting that it launch a probe into Rep. Laura Richardson’s apparent use of federal taxpayer dollars to further her re-election campaign — is a nonprofit organization based in Washington.
It was founded in 2001 to advocate for the pubic interest by investigating corrupt politicians and using litigation to target their corrupt behavior.
The group is funded by various foundations as well as donations. CREW has received financial backing from George Soro’s Open Society Institute, Democracy Alliance, the Tides Foundation, the Streisand Foundation, the Arca Foundation, the David Geffen Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, the Mayberg Family Charitable Foundation, the Woodbury Fund and the Sheller Family Foundation.
While the group’s critics cite it as disproportionately targeting Republicans, CREW has long attempted to hold Richardson, a Democrat, accountable for her actions and was a driving force behind an ethics inquiry into Richardson’s real estate dealings.
UPDATE Tuesday, June 28, 1:19pm | Ray Zaccaro, the communications director in Rep. Laura Richardson’s (D-37th) Washington office, released the following statement moments ago regarding a watchdog group’s June 28 letter to the FBI requesting a formal investigation of the congresswoman based on documents the group obtained that it says illustrate Richardson’s violation of congressional ethics rules:
The allegations in today’s letter released by CREW are not new and they are based on media accounts, information and claims reported publicly months ago.
Nothing in the CREW letter or its exhibits supports the allegations that Congresswoman Richardson ever forced or coerced members of her staff to engage in campaign activity.
As this office has previously confirmed, staff were interviewed by the House Ethics Committee in November 2010. The Congresswoman and her staff have fully cooperated.
It should be noted that, over the course of nearly two years, CREW leveled allegations against the Congresswoman relating to the improper foreclosure sale of a home she owned, and although the House Ethics Committee cleared her of any wrongdoing in July 2010, almost a year ago, CREW has yet to apologize for or retract the unsupported allegations the group made in that case.
Tuesday, June 28, 11:14am | Watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released documents today that show Long Beach Congresswoman Laura Richardson and her staff “clearly violating congressional ethics rules and potentially federal law,” according to a story on The Daily Caller and also reported by Roll Call.
E-mails obtained by CREW illustrate Richardson’s violation of congressional ethics laws that prohibit elected officials from using federal taxpayer dollars to cover costs associated with campaigning.
CREW’s executive Director, Melanie Sloan, in a June 28 letter to the FBI, which can be seen above, said that internal communications obtained by CREW reveal that Richardson “apparently required staff members to attend political fundraisers, work on her campaign for re-election ‘under threat of termination’ and coordinate campaign events from her House office,” Roll Call reports.
CREW is requesting that the FBI launch an official investigation into the extent of Richardson’s violation of the law.
The Daily Caller reports:
The documents show Richardson using official taxpayer resources for political events, including fundraisers. “Rep. Richardson didn’t just violate House rules, she likely committed crimes,” said Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director.
In one instance, Richardson’s chief of staff, Shirley Cooks, told all of Richardson’s aides in an email from her official House account, “All staff are required to attend” a fundraiser held Sept. 29, 2010, adding, “Bring spouses and tell interns they have to be there as well. Thanks.”
Another staffer, Daysha Austin, then a district scheduler, told staffers, “The Congresswoman is asking all staff that one has to wear their staff shirt to tomorrow’s event so we can be visible and easily identified.”
The “staff shirt,” pictured in CREW’s complaint, features a logo that says “California’s 37th Congressional District,” the district that Richardson represents.
Click here to read the story.
More to come …