The House Ethics Committee acknowledged Thursday the Office of Congressional Ethics told them in August that California Rep. Duncan Hunter may have violated House rules.
The panel said it received the complaint Aug. 31 and needs more time to determine whether it should open an investigation.
“The committee will announce its course of action in this matter following its organizational meeting and adoption of committee rules in the 115th Congress,” read a statement from outgoing Republican Chairman Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania and ranking Democrat Linda Sanchez of California.
It did not make the Office of Congressional Ethics report public, nor did it reveal the nature of the allegations.
However, an article in Hunter’s hometown paper published Wednesday may give some indication of what the committee is reviewing.
The San Diego Union Tribune reported that Hunter, a Republican, may have violated House rules when he secured a loan to repay his campaign almost $50,000 for personal expenses that he billed in possible violation of campaign finance laws.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent agency created in response to claims that Congress was not policing itself enough through the Ethics Committee. Numerous scandals, some of which ended in lawmakers and staffers going to jail, came to light between 2006-2008, but the Ethics Committee ignored the allegations.
The office has a professional staff that investigates allegations of wrongdoing and presents a case to an eight-member board, which decides whether to refer the matter to the bipartisan Ethics Committee for adjudication.
Watchdog groups have complained that even with the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Ethics Committee still takes too long to resolve cases.
