ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
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A Washington government watchdog group has named Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) to its list of ‘most corrupt members of Congress,’ while two other California lawmakers earned ‘dishonorable mention.’
In naming Richardson to its annual list of 12 ‘most corrupt,’ Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited her recent House reprimand and fine for illegally requiring her congressional staff to work on her reelection campaign at taxpayer expense.
California’s Rep. Laura D. Richardson was named one of the most corrupt people of the year. In a report released by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the group named 19 members of Congress-14 members whose actions violated the law or who otherwise engaged in serious misconduct, and five others whose lack of regard for the rules earned them a dishonorable mention. Richardson came out at No. 8.
Richardson has been accused of misusing official resources for campaign activity and personal benefit. But this isn’t the first time the politician has been included in a CREW report. She was also listed in 2008 and 2009.
In an interview published in March 2011, Maria Angel Macias, Rep. Richardson’s former district scheduler, alleged that Rep. Richardson had required members of her staff to volunteer time on her 2010 re-election campaign.
She said the representative often scheduled campaign events “while on the taxpayer’s dime” and even made staff members work at her campaign events outside office hours. Other staff reported that they were forced to work campaigns or face termination.
In her resignation letter, Ms. Macias added that “on more than one occasion [she] was asked to do a task or coordinate an event that was on the ethical borderline and not in [her] job description.”
Staffers also reported that the congresswoman even asked them to routinely run errands for her.
Other alleged offences included intimidation for political contribution, solicitation on federal property, improper use of appropriated funds and false statements to Congress.
ABUSING STAFF, VETERANS
In an explosive resignation letter, a disabled veteran and aide to Rep. Laura Richardson told the California Democrat that she’d “rather be at war in Afghanistan” than continue working for the congresswoman and accused a senior staff member of engaging in improper political activity on government time.
Brenda Cruz, who worked at Richardson’s office through the Wounded Warrior Program, wrote that Richardson and the senior staffer mistreated her during and after her pregnancy, forcing Cruz to conclude she had to leave the office for her own health and that of her child.
More important to a sprawling House Ethics Committee investigation into Richardson, Cruz alleges the congresswoman used her staff for political purposes. Cruz writes that she, herself, unwittingly engaged in political activity and that a senior staffer routinely and openly worked on Richardson’s reelection effort and other political campaigns while in Richardson’s district office. House aides may work on political campaigns but only outside of congressional offices and on their own time, and no government resources can be used in these efforts.
The House Ethics Committee, which is investigating whether Richardson and her aides improperly used official resources for campaign activities, is now in possession of a copy of Cruz’s March 9 letter, multiple sources told POLITICO.
Richardson now has to contend with the allegation that she mistreated a pregnant disabled veteran who was part of an official House program to help find employment for folks who served in the military.
“I would have preferred to work here until my two-year fellowship with the Wounded Warrior Program was finished but your constant harassment, bullying, and abuse toward me … has become more than I can take,” Cruz wrote.
“As a service connected-disabled veteran it is sad to say that I [would] rather be at war in Afghanistan then work under people that are morally corrupt. I have a child to think about now, and my son needs his mother to be healthy and happy.”
Cruz also aimed at the heart of the Ethics Committee investigation into whether Richardson improperly used congressional aides and resources for political and personal purposes.
“[U]nder your direct instructions I was relegated to be your receptionist and unknowingly, to illegally work on your campaign...
Capitol Weekly takes a look at Laura Richardson’s staff turnover rate, and finds that 18 staffers have already left since Richardson was elected to the House of Representatives two years ago.
The report is based on records maintained by LegiStorm, which tracks congressional staffing and salaries.
“When you see someone who can’t keep staff, it’s usually either they’re a difficult boss to work for, they don’t pay enough or the staff just doesn’t respect them while they’re there,” said Jock Friedly, who publishes LegiStorm.
The House Ethics Committee has unanimously concluded that House member, California Democrat Laura Richardson, was found to have "violated" the law and was fined $10,000 for misconduct.
Richardson, who is seeking another term in November, was accused of pressuring staffers to work for her campaign. The committee said it had "substantial reason to believe that Representative Laura Richardson violated the Purpose Law...." This will trigger a floor vote to sanction her.
The Ethics Committee established an investigative subcommittee in November of last year to investigate her use of official staff for campaign purposes, which is against House rules. Staffers in many offices leave the congressional office to work for campaigns, but working for both is not permitted.
The committee said in a statement that she was "improperly using House resources for campaign, personal, and nonofficial purposes; by requiring or compelling her official staff to perform campaign work."
The U.S. House voted Thursday to formally reprimand California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson for misusing government staffers for a variety of political and personal purposes.
...Among other things, ethics committee investigators cited evidence that Richardson forced staff members to help organize and attend political fundraisers.
Her “general practice,” according to one document released by the committee, was “that the district office employees were not permitted to take a break for dinner or to perform any other personal tasks before reporting to the campaign office to perform campaign work.”
Employees who refused “would probably not have a job,” one staffer was told.
For the fourth time in the last five years, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit governmental watchdog organization, has named Rep. Laura Richardson as one of Washington’s dozen “most corrupt” members of Congress.
... For the last eight years, the organization has released the names of those who they identify as the most corrupt members of congress. And since 2008, Richardson has made the list four times...
“In 2012, for the second campaign cycle in a row, the California Democrat bullied and coerced her official staff into working on her reelection campaign,” CREW states on its site as to why Richardson made the list. “Rep. Richardson also misused other official resources for campaign purposes, including an official car she used during her 2010 campaign. Rep. Richardson repeatedly obstructed the Ethics Committee’s investigation, encouraging staff members to lie to the committee and withholding requested documents.”
Representative Laura Richardson, Democrat of California, had agreed to be punished by the House and to pay a $10,000 fine for compelling her Congressional staff members to work on her 2010 campaign. The House Ethics Committee recommended the punishment in a biting report on Wednesday...
The report said she also used official resources for personal purposes and obstructed the committee’s investigation.
As part of a settlement negotiated with the committee, Ms. Richardson admitted to the wrongdoing and agreed to accept the reprimand and the fine, the committee said.
The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday recommended the full House reprimand and fine Rep. Laura Richardson $10,000 for seven ethics violations including improper usage of House resources.
The bipartisan committee reported their their investigation found the California Democrat violated House rules and other standards of conduct by using congressional resources for "campaign, personal, and nonofficial purposes," "requiring or compelling" House staff to work on her re-election campaign, and by "obstructing" the committee's investigation by destroying or altering evidence, failing to produce documentation and "attempting to influence the testimony of witnesses."
At one point in the report, the committee claimed Richardson acted with "utter disdain" for their process.
South Bay Rep. Laura Richardson was reprimanded and fined $10,000 by the House of Representatives Thursday for violating standards of conduct.
The move came a day after the House Ethics committee issued a report saying Richardson wove an “elaborate fabrication” in an “absurd attempt” to conceal that she improperly coerced staffers to perform campaign work.
She was ordered to pay the fine by Dec. 1.
In a strongly worded 16-page report, the committee said Richardson admitted to all seven counts of violations and agreed to the proposed punishment.
The committee concluded that Richardson demonstrated a “selective judgment of credibility” and “an utter absence of true remorse for her misuse of official resources … as well as a near total deflection of responsibility for this matter.”
“It is not this Committee, it is not other Members, it is not either political party and, most certainly, it is not her staff that is responsible for the situation Representative Richardson finds herself in,” the report reads in part. “It is Representative Richardson’s own management, Representative Richardson’s own decisions, and Representative Richardson’s own actions that are responsible for the existence of this matter, the resources they have required, and the damage to the integrity of her office and this institution that they have caused.
The House voted to reprimand Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) for using House resources for her own personal purposes and pressuring and intimidating her staff to work on her campaign...
Ethics Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and ranking member Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said the committee unanimously agreed that a reprimand was in order, and said this step is needed to ensure the integrity of the House.
{mosads}”The recommendation for sanction we present to you today will ensure that Rep. Richardson is held accountable for her conduct,” Sanchez said. “It will also reaffirm the credibility of the House by demonstrating our commitment to upholding and enforcing the ethics standards that apply to all of us equally.
“The misconduct in this matter was serious, and in accordance with House precedent, it merits the serious sanction of reprimand.”
HOMOPHOBIA
Laura Richardson is running for State Senate in California — but local leaders say she is not the right choice
In 1996, Richardson sent out a campaign mailer that accused her then primary-opponent, Gerrie Schipske, of being “committed to a radical gay rights agenda” and of backing “ultra-liberal” Sheila Kuehl, who was the only openly gay state legislator at the time.
Schipske, a lesbian, felt the attacks were directed at her in a very targeted manner.
L.A. County Assessor and President of the L.A. County LGBTQ+ Elected Official Association Jeff Prang recalled Richardson's 1996 campaign as being a "very homophobic campaign."
"At that point in the L.A. County community, for a Democrat to run an anti-gay campaign — it was pretty bad," he said.
And in 2004 while Richardson was on the Long Beach City Council, she voted against a resolution to oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
ETHICS VIOLATIONS AT U.S. HOUSE