US congresswoman fined for making staff work on election campaigns

The Ethics Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives announced Wednesday in Washington that it will fine Rep. Laura Richardson (Democrat-California) 10,000 U.S. dollars for making her staff work on her political campaign for personal and unofficial purposes.

The lower house will vote Thursday on the ethics body’s decision at a general meeting. The disciplinary action on the congresswoman will likely be confirmed because the ethics committee is a non-partisan body.

In the committee’s 21-page report released Wednesday, Richardson before the 2009 general elections is said to have advised her staff to work on her political campaigns in their off-hours, including after work and weekends when Congress was not in session.

Unlike the Korean National Assembly, Congress strictly separates work for legislative purposes and election campaigns.

Since election camps are not considered congressional work, having congressional staff work on such campaigns is a violation of congressional rules as well as federal law. Richardson is also said to have begun taking steps to cover up her actions after being told of the committee’s investigation, including prevention of any staff member from telling what happened. The lawmaker is also known to have had her congressional staff register as voluntary supporters at the election camp of her counterpart and spy on him or her.

The ethics committee investigated the Democrat for 18 months from October 2010. She was found to have told her congressional staff to work for her election campaign even after the investigation had begun.

The report also said she was uncooperative with the inquiry and even asked to finish her testimony quickly because she wanted to attend a congressional softball game.

The committee also found that two of Richardson’s aides, chief of staff Shirley Cooks and deputy district director Daysha Austin, threatened other staff by saying they would probably lose their jobs if they refused to volunteer for the campaign. The committee also issued letters of reprimand to Cooks and Austin.

U.S. media reported that the committee’s investigation will deal a fatal blow to the lawmaker’s reelection this time. Richardson is a three-time legislator who entered Congress in 2007.

She is highly likely to lose in the November election to another Democrat, Janice Hahn, with whom she will have to compete as a result of a recent adjustment of her constituency.

Richardson told the committee that she neither advised any staffer to work on her campaign nor tried to hinder the investigation. Yet after the release of the committee’s report, her office said in a statement, “Rep. Richardson takes this matter with the utmost seriousness and takes full responsibility for her actions.” She has no plan to request a hearing, which would take months.

Korea allows parliamentary staff to work for election campaigns, something which could be viewed as a privilege.

An aide to a lawmaker at the National Assembly said, “There’s a joke that representatives hire parliamentary staff for four years to have them work on the next election campaign.”

yhchoi65@donga.com kyle@donga.com