Posted on 11/30/2010 7:19:05 PM PST by Libloather
2 House ethics attorneys suspended
By JOHN BRESNAHAN
Updated: 11/30/10 9:21 PM EST
Two attorneys for the House ethics committee have been placed on indefinite “paid administrative leave” stemming from serious problems within the secretive panel.
Morgan Kim, the deputy chief counsel and the lead attorney on the case of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is one of the attorneys placed on leave, said several sources familiar with the controversy.
Stacy Sovereign, another committee lawyer, was also put on leave, these sources said.
Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign on Nov. 19, but was unable to do so.
However, the two attorneys are no longer assigned to any active cases, said the sources.
The ethics committee declined to comment on Kim's or Sovereign’s status, saying it does not speak publicly about internal committee issues or personnel status.
The ethics committee recently scored a huge victory when Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) was found guilty on 11 charges of violating House ethics rules. Rangel is expected to be censured by as early as Wednesday.
But the ethics committee has postponed an ethics trial for Waters, which was scheduled to begin Nov. 29. The delay angered Waters, who has publicly declared that she wants her case resolved before the end of this year. Waters has been charged with three counts of violating ethics rules for allegedly improperly intervening in late 2008 on behalf of a minority owned bank where her husband owned more than $350,000 worth of stock.
Waters and her chief of staff, Mikael Moore, have vehemently denied any accusation of wrongdoing and have sought to move forward an ethics trial for the California Democrat.
It is unclear if the decision to place Kim and Sovereign on paid leave was related to the Waters’ case or another matter, although they were placed in that status on the same day that Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the committee, announced the Waters’ trial was delayed. The committee announced that it had new information, including e-mails from Moore, that would have an impact on the Waters’ matter.
MONEY?
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Yeah. 'Huge victory'. Censure.
Whoop de frickin' doo.
And the headline, "House Ethics Attorneys" is the ultimate: a very rare triple oxymoron. Amazing.
Curious indeed. I wonder who the “several sources” are, and whether Politico knows any more than this. They generally have an inside track with Dem politicians.
I would speculate that the Dems controlling the committee were as anxious to settle this before the next congress as Waters is.
So, one possibility is that they missed some damning evidence that would have arisen after the changeover. Or that they were punished for FINDING some problem that couldn’t be settled immediately. If so, it must be something serious that is pending, that is bound to come out and can’t be covered up.
swamp fever.
“Wanted to fire them, but couldn’t” makes me wonder whether that’s “couldn’t” because it wasn’t permitted, or “couldn’t” because they’d no longer have a client so attorney/client privilege might not apply and the powers that be would be at risk of them spilling the beans?
Maxine’s demand for a quick hearing feels a lot like the old “let’s get the case to court before they find the rest of the evidence” routine. “It’s an old gag, but it just... may... work” - Don Adams.
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