FACT RELEASES ITS LIST OF WORST ETHICS VIOLATORS OF 2015

Ethics Watchdog Puts Hillary Clinton in a League of Her Own

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a non-partisan ethics watchdog group directed by former U.S. Attorney from Iowa, Matthew G. Whitaker, today released the group’s worst ethics violators of 2015.  On top of the list of seven members of Congress and candidates, FACT had to award a category, all by itself, to Hillary Clinton for her roles in various ongoing scandals and investigations. 

“Elected officials are sent to Washington to follow and uphold the law and so they need to be held to the highest standard of ethics.  Even the appearance of impropriety can quickly erode public trust, and Mrs. Clinton is in a league of her own” said Matthew G. Whitaker, FACT executive director.  “We will continue to vigorously hold the lantern over unethical behavior so that we have a government that serves the public’s interest, not the self-interests of leaders who think they are beyond reproach.”  

A League of Her Own-Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

During her time as Secretary of State, overwhelming evidence shows, primarily through the State Department’s release of her emails, that she abused her official position.  Those emails remained hidden from the public until earlier this year when it was discovered that Secretary Clinton conducted government business on her private email server and a judge ultimately ordered that she turn over and the State Department release the emails.  Since becoming a presidential candidate, she has on numerous occasions violated campaign and ethics laws.  Here are just a few examples that don’t even touch the surface of her improper behavior:

• Clinton Giving Preferential Treatment Involving Son-in-Law: FACT has called for a federal probe into communications during Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department which suggest that then Secretary Clinton gave special treatment to a private mining company as a result of the company’s relationships with Clinton’s son-in-law and donors to the Clinton Foundation.

• Clinton Foundation Payments to Hillary 08 Presidential Campaign: FACT has asked the IRS to investigate whether the Clinton Foundation broke federal law by making payments of nearly $350,000 to Hillary Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign to rent Clinton's email list after she failed to secure the Democratic nomination.  The transaction came at a time the campaign was paying off debt, but Clinton’s ability to fundraise was limited by State Department ethics rules.

• Clinton Campaign Illegally Interacting with PAC:  FACT asked the FEC to investigate illegal interactions between Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and her PAC, Ready for Hillary, over a Ready for Hillary email list with 4 million names which the Clinton campaign received.  There is skepticism about the legitimacy of this list swap since Ready for Hillary is an independent Super PAC and Federal law explicitly prohibits a candidate from coordinating with and accepting donations, including an in-kind donation of a mailing list, from a super PAC. 

• Clinton Violated Ethics Rules by Meeting with Senate Democrats: FACT asked for an investigation into meetings between Hillary Clinton's campaign team and key Senate Democrats inside official Senate offices where political activities are barred.

FACT’s top congressional and campaign ethics violators of 2015 are:

1. Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-9): FACT asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Representative Grayson for breaching House ethics rules resulting from his management of hedge funds that use Grayson’s name in the title.  Ethics rules prohibit Members of Congress from engaging in certain outside employment, and specifically “professions that provide services involving a fiduciary relationship.” While Grayson said recently that his offshore Cayman funds have been closed, recent press reports maintain they are still open.

2. Congressman Frank Guinta (NH-1): FACT called on Representative Guinta to resign for lying to the media and his constituents after government documents confirmed that the $381,000 in checks he received from his parents as a personal loan to his first campaign for Congress in 2010, was in fact a family loan, and not his money as he previously maintained.  As the result of the FEC probe, Guinta was fined $15,000 and has to pay back $355,000 of illegal donations he received.   

3. Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-9): Congressman Pittenger reportedly came under scrutiny by the FBI and IRS for conduct related to the real estate business he sold to his wife.  When Pittenger was elected to Congress, he was prohibited by ethics rules from continuing the land investment business.  Pittenger sold the business to his wife and he says he has, but refuses to release, a letter from the House Ethics Committee approving the sale of the business to his wife.  FACT demanded that Pittenger release the letter because it is in the best interest of North Carolinians, especially in light of the ongoing questions over the validity of the sale and conduct of the business.

4. Congressman Mark Meadows (NC-11): FACT asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Mark Meadows for breach of House Ethics Rules because he continued to pay his former Chief of Staff for almost three months after his employment ended. Representative Meadows characterized the compensation as “severance,” but there is no exception to the rule that would permit a Member to maintain an employee on payroll when that employee is not performing his or her congressional duties.

5. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO): FACT asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate Senator Claire McCaskill for unlawfully influencing an election for federal office.  Senator McCaskill spent $40,000 to conduct a poll of Missouri Republicans, which her campaign later provided data and information to her Republican opponent Todd Akin during her 2012 re-election.  The goal was to help Akin, McCaskill’s preferred opponent that year, win the Republican Primary.  McCaskill joked about the incident.  A companion complaint was also filed against Akin. 

6. Senator Tom Carper (D-DE): FACT filed a Complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee over Senator Carper’s misuse of taxpayer funds for political purposes.  In October, Senator Carper endorsed Hillary Clinton for President in a press release which was posted on Carper’s official Senate website, presumably by a Senate staffer.  After FACT’s complaint, the press release was removed and Carper responded in the paper Roll Call: “It was clear that that was not supposed to happen.”

7. U.S. Senate (PA) Candidate Joe Sestak: On July 31, FACT asked the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to immediately investigate Joe Sestak for repeatedly and improperly using his military service in campaign materials.  Mr. Sestak has issued numerous campaign materials often addressed from “Admiral Sestak” and include photographs of him in uniform. Department of Defense requires that retired military members campaigning for political office must abide by certain restrictions when referencing their military service in all campaign materials.  

FACT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics, and transparency in government and civic arenas. For more on FACT, visit: http://www.factdc.org/. 

Read some of the media coverage:  the Daily Caller article here; the Inside Sources article here; the McClatchy article here; the Washington Examiner article here; and the Washington Free Beacon article here.