November 21, 2009
What's Inside:
House committee clears Graves of ethics complaint
A U.S. House committee has cleared Congressman Sam Graves of an alleged ethics violation.
The Standards of Official Conduct Committee voted unanimously Thursday to dismiss the anonymous complaint.
Mr. Graves, who represents Northwest Missouri in the House, expressed his appreciation to the committee and called the accusation “a political smear.”
The allegation dealt with the March appearance of Brooks Hurst before the House Small Business Committee. Mr. Graves sits as the top Republican on that committee. Mr. Hurst spoke on behalf of the Missouri Soybean Association.
The lawmaker and Mr. Hurst both reside in Tarkio. Also, Mr. Hurst and the congressman’s wife are investors in two renewable fuels cooperatives. The title of the March 4 hearing was “The State of the Renewable Fuels Industry in the Current Economy.”
The standards committee found that no House rule “prohibits the creation of an appearance of a conflict of interest” when selecting hearing witnesses.
Mr. Graves said in a statement Thursday: “In dismissing this matter, the committee found that not only was there no violation of any rule, but that even if the allegation were true, there would have been no violation of any rule.”
The investigation of the complaint became entangled in a broader squabble between the standards committee, comprised of House members, and the Office of Congressional Ethics, an outside panel. The complaint was among the first pursued by the newly formed ethics group.
The standards committee report hinted at some of the friction. One sentence read: “The standards committee regrets that it finds deficiencies in the OCE’s handling of this case, including procedural problems.”
Mr. Graves said he was glad the standards committee found the accusations to be “baseless and completely unfounded attacks on my character.”
Ken Newton can be reached
at kenn@npgco.com.
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well I'm glade the accusations were baseless, now maybe he can do his job as a congressman and get Edd Pamir home from Canada.he has been there much too long.please mr. graves, do your part and see that justice works for Edd. the man has suffered enough!
The committee looking into the ethics charges against Graves had extended its investigation just last month. They may not have found fire, but they surely smelled smoke.
This wasn't hardly the first time Graves has been the subject of ethics questions. According to the website of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), http://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/1172
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has accepted perhaps thousands of dollars worth of free flight time in a vintage airplane owned by a contracting firm in his district that also is a major source of funds for Graves’ campaigns.
Graves has never reported on House financial disclosure reports that he has been using the firm’s airplane, and in news accounts of his travels, the airplane — which is decorated with a sticker reading “Sam Graves, Pilot” — is described as his.
Ethics experts say Graves’ failure to disclose the flights as a gift may be a violation of House ethics rules.
"nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics"
Non-partisan? Hardly. CREW is funded by the Democracy Alliance, a liberal Washington think tank funded by some eighty wealthy liberals.
The Democracy Alliance tries to keep a low profile and its wealthy donors prefer anonymity.
Members of the Democracy Alliance include billionaires like George Soros and his son Jonathan Soros, former Rockefeller Family Fund president Anne Bartley, San Francisco Bay Area donors Susie Tompkins Buell and Mark Buell, Hollywood director Rob Reiner, Taco Bell heir Rob McKay and New York financiers like Steven Gluckstern.
Other recipients of Democracy Alliance's generosity include ACORN, Center for American Progress, People For the American Way and many other left-wing organizations.
These are the "ethics experts" skeptic would have us believe?
how many right wing conservative ,bible thumping holier-than-thou , push it in your face republican mouth piece organizations are in Washington that donate money for the dirt smearing tactics that go on? i think they both have this going on and i don't agree with either one or anyone of them .if they are going to donate money for the degrading of each other , why don't they just give it to the hungry and the needy? what good does it do to befall your fellow man? people that do that try to make someone else look bad so they don't look so stupid . i wish they would all grow up, they look like fools! wait a minute, that is l.o.d. favorite saying. silly!
"The committee looking into the ethics charges against Graves had extended its investigation just last month. They may not have found fire, but they surely smelled smoke."
"That's right, remember, its not the actual guilt or innocence of any impropriety that matters. What matters is the seriousness of the allegations..," he said sarcastically.