The House Ethics Committee will extend its investigation into whether Rep. Mike Honda violated House rules by improperly using his congressional staff to conduct campaign business.
According to a report issued Thursday, Honda is accused of mixing campaign and congressional resources during his 2014 bid for re-election.
In a statement issued Thursday, committee Chairman Charles Dent, R-Pa., and ranking member Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said they will continue to jointly gather additional information to look into the charges against Honda, a seven-term California Democrat.
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory’ disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” they added.
Still, the decision keeps Honda under scrutiny in the House and could eventually result in a full committee investigation resulting in punishment ranging from a written admonishment to expulsion, although the latter is highly unlikely given the committee’s track record over the past two decades.
Honda was flagged to House ethics committee by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, a group of non-elected officials appointed by Congress. Dent and Sanchez decided in July to extend their examination of the charges until Sept. 3.
The ethics panel released the OCE’s 41-page report Thursday detailing their review of the accusations against Honda.
In the report, the six-member OCE said it unanimously found “substantial reason to believe” Honda “used official resources,” for his 2014 re-election campaign and “improperly linked official activities to campaign or political support,” which is a violation of House rules.
The OCE said Honda’s staff assisted with his campaigns, and “many of these activities appear to have taken place while staff were on official time, using official resources.”
Honda told the OCE, according to the report, that the two jobs were segregated and that his chief of staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, would “be sure that she made a cut between responsibilities as the Chief of Staff and doing things for the campaign.”
But the OCE found evidence through emails and interviews with staffers that the jobs overlapped, not just for the chief of staff, but other congressional employees in Honda’s office.
In a break for Honda, the OCE dismissed allegations that Honda used his campaign staff to help him with personal errands.
Honda fought a tough re-election battle in 2014. It’s typical for congressional staffers to work on political campaigns, although they must do so outside of official work hours and without pay or resources from the congressional office.
The OCE report found serious overlap in Honda’s case, and evidence that congressional staff were pressured into working for the Honda re-election bid.
The OCE report included interviews with one staffer who suggested there were efforts to hide the co-mingling of duties through the use of personal email addresses rather than the congressional account.
“He characterized use of personal emails as ‘an effort to avoid the recording that would happen if you put it on mail.house.gov. If it’s your personal email you can control that flow of information better,'” that staffer said, according to the report.
Honda issued a response to the OCE accusations, written by his lawyer, Andrew D. Harman, who asked the House Ethics Committee to dismiss the investigation.
Harman said Honda, “had no participation in, knowledge of, or reason to know about any of the allegations.”
But Herman added that Honda “has used the report to establish stricter guidelines and implement best practices in both the congressional and campaign offices.”
