House Ethics Committee investigators faulted Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA), for intimidating her staff, forcing them to “volunteer” for her campaign and obstructing their investigation into her violations of House rules.

The bipartisan group of investigators “unanimously concluded that there was substantial reason to believe” that Richardson violated House rules “by improperly using House resources for campaign, personal, and nonofficial purposes; by requiring or compelling her official staff to perform campaign work; and by obstructing the investigation of the Committee and the ISC through the alteration or destruction of evidence, the deliberate failure to produce documents responsive to requests for information and a subpoena, and attempting to influence the testimony of witnesses.”

Richardson tried to “intimidate [her staff] on a regular basis,” including one subtle threat against a staffer who had not volunteered on her campaign. According to the report, Richardson said told the staffer that the failure to volunteer “makes me uncomfortable working with you.” The aide told the Committee that she interpreted that comment “as a threat” meaning “if you don’t volunteer on my campaign, you are not going to continue working here.”

The committee also found that one of Richardson’s aides, speaking for the congresswoman, told other staff that “you probably will not have a job, you know, if you don’t volunteer” on the campaign.

Richardson even coached her staff on how to answer investigators’ questions about whether she was forcing them to volunteer. “[N]umerous staffers testified that Representative Richards had a mock dialogue with herself, stating some of the questions she expected the Committee to ask, such as ‘did you feel that your campaign work was mandatory or that you were compelled in some way?’ and then an answer -- ‘no’.”

Three staffers told the Committee that Richardson “was asking them to answer a certain way that would minimize her culpability whether or not those answers were true,” according to the report.

Per a negotiated agreement, Richardson admitted to seven counts of ethical lapses and must pay a $10,000 fine. The Ethics Committee recommended that the full House reprimand her, as well.

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Editor's Note: Perhaps it is time that the penalties for ethics violations and determinations of guilt where illegal activities by an elected official are concerned are raised to a level of professional pain. Perhaps expulsion would deter the political clash from wiping their behinds with the trust of their constituents.


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