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Rep. Karen McCarthy used campaign funds to attend this year's Grammy Awards in New York in possible violation of federal campaign laws, former aides to the Kansas City Democrat said.
The apparently personal four-day trip occurred in February, according to a campaign credit-card statement and the trip itinerary obtained by The Kansas City Star.
The credit-card statement listed a $2,916 bill from the Waldorf Astoria hotel, an expenditure not listed in McCarthy's campaign expense report, as the Federal Election Commission requires.
Former staff members also said that over the years McCarthy used them for personal tasks, such as routinely chauffeuring her in Washington. Generally, congressional workers are not supposed to perform personal duties for members of Congress.
McCarthy also accepted tickets for the Oct. 5 Chiefs home game against the Denver Broncos, according to the Sprint Corp, which provided the tickets. The value of those tickets exceeded the federally allowable gift limit of $100.
After The Star questioned Sprint officials Nov. 4, McCarthy sent Sprint a check for about $140 the next day.
McCarthy did not return three calls over the last several days seeking comment on the Grammy trip, although she earlier denied other questions of impropriety. Also not returning repeated telephone calls over the last three weeks was McCarthy's long-time campaign treasurer, Karen Holland.
William B. Canfield III, a former senior counsel to the Senate ethics committee who has represented clients before the House ethics committee, said using campaign funds for personal use was a violation of House rules and against the law.
“If it's nonofficial and it's nonpolitical, then it's personal by definition,” said Canfield, who does not represent McCarthy. “She's probably got a problem.”
Should the Federal Election Commission determine McCarthy violated the law, she could be fined.
“It's more likely a problem for her with the House ethics committee,” Canfield said. “They tend to get more exercised about personal conversion of campaign funds.”
McCarthy already has unfinished business with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, also known as the House ethics panel. This stems from her attempt earlier this year to first use $12,500 in campaign funds and then taxpayer money to pay for a management consultant for her congressional office, a violation of House rules.
The 56-year-old congresswoman from the 5th District also has experienced problems with staff turnover since she returned this spring from an alcohol rehabilitation center in Arizona.
One key person making claims against McCarthy is former Kansas City scheduler, Cindy VanSickle, who described McCarthy's apparent attitude as, “I am the congresswoman. I get whatever I want.”
Another former aide, who declined to be named, charged that McCarthy has developed an “air of entitlement” during her five terms in Washington.
McCarthy's earlier troubles have attracted two Democrats, Damian Thorman and Jamie Metzl, to run against her in the party primary. Also in the field is a Republican, Grandview city Councilman Steve Dennis.
On the record
Although about 10 staffer members have privately discussed problems in McCarthy's office over the past year, VanSickle is one of the first to speak on the record.
Most Washington congressional workers rarely speak publicly, in part for fear of harming future employment prospects and in part because of the capitol culture of leaving the talking to their bosses.
VanSickle, 41, worked for McCarthy for almost seven years. As scheduler, she was a key office employee in charge of arranging McCarthy's days in Washington and back in Kansas City. Former employees described her as loyal and dependable.
On Oct. 1, however, she was “terminated for cause,” said McCarthy, without elaborating on a personnel matter.
The former scheduler believed she was seen as too close to McCarthy's former veteran chief of staff, Phil Scaglia, and deemed expendable for that reason. Scaglia, one of three top aides who have left since this summer, declined to comment. Overall, about a dozen staff members have left since March, when McCarthy fell on an escalator and cut her head inside a House office building. A few days later, she checked into an Arizona alcoholism rehabilitation center.
The Grammys
VanSickle said Thursday she had scheduled no election-related events during McCarthy's trip to New York for the Grammys.
“As far as I know, there were no fund-raising efforts or anything like that, no,” said VanSickle.
On McCarthy's first-quarter campaign report for 2003, no New York trip is itemized. One expenditure, however, listed a vague “travel expense” payment of $3,663 for a Bank of America Visa bill. That bill includes the $2,916 payment to the Waldorf Astoria.
Federal campaign rules allow members of Congress to list credit-card payments on their disclosure reports. But the rules also stipulate that any single expense of more than $200 must be itemized.
According to the itinerary, the New York trip included attendance at a Grammy classical music luncheon; a dinner honoring Bono, lead singer for the rock group U2; a stop at the Museum of Modern Art; and the Grammy Awards themselves as well as post-ceremony parties.
VanSickle's allegations about the free Chiefs tickets for McCarthy and her nephew were confirmed by Sprint spokesman Mark Bonavia. McCarthy had not paid for those tickets at the time of the game.
A day after The Star talked to Bonavia on Nov. 4, he called back and said a personal check for about $140 was delivered to Sprint's Washington office.
McCarthy explained in a Nov. 6 interview: “I did reimburse Sprint this week. I know you have a concern about that. Sprint gave us the call.”
Asked why she reimbursed the corporation once The Star inquired about a month after the game, McCarthy said she always reimbursed for tickets.
“Usually my practice has been to write a check and give them on the spot,” she said. “I didn't have my checkbook with me. I mailed it this week.”
Personal
VanSickle and several other former employees said McCarthy had for years used her staff as a personal chauffeur service.
Many members of Congress accept regular rides from staff members as they race from meeting to meeting, either in their home districts or in Washington.
Although many other members walk to their offices, use public transportation or drive themselves, McCarthy was said to routinely use staff members as drivers.
“I did drive her to work every morning,” said Scott Stark, who worked for McCarthy for exactly one year from 2001-2002. “I drove her back home about half the time, maybe a third of the time.
“I never delved into House rules to figure out exactly what the legitimacy of this job was,” he said. “It was my first job on the Hill. I just smiled and said, ‘Sure.' ”
McCarthy said Nov. 6 the charge was false. Although she doesn't own a car in Washington, McCarthy said she often took taxis back and forth to work. She also caught rides with other members of Congress.
“For actually the bulk of this year, I've been taking taxis back and forth,” she said. “I don't think you have good information.”
Several former employees noted that McCarthy pays staff members overtime to get her home at night. A check of House payment records confirms regular overtime payments to a “special assistant” going back to at least 1998. Some of those late-night trips may have occurred after House votes and were legitimate.
Stark said he was asked several times to drive her on personal errands: a stop at a boutique supermarket called Trader Joe's, a visit to the Smithsonian Art Gallery and once to the National Arboretum.
“As with every single aspect of her personality, you can do no right,” Stark said of his experience before he was fired by McCarthy. “You'd leave too early, arrive too late. It gave her one more thing to hold over your head.”
Top House ethics officials said the rules on staff drivers and other use of staff for personal errands were not specific.
“What's permissible use of staff versus what is not ... there's really nothing published,” one official said.
The key may be how frequent the practice is. If McCarthy regularly uses taxpayer-paid staff to ferry her on personal errands, that is a violation of House rules and of the law, Canfield said.
“Appropriated funds are to be used for officially incurred expenses,” he said. “Your staff is to be used exclusively for official business, not personal business. Being picked up in the morning and dropped off at night is more akin to a chauffeur service, I'd say.”
VanSickle claimed that she spent one-third or more of her 40-hour week scheduling personal appointments for McCarthy that included stops for massages, hair coloring, manicures, facials and chiropractors visits.
VanSickle said her work on McCarthy's personal appointments took place before and after her visit to the Arizona rehabilitation clinic.
Once, VanSickle said, she waited more than two hours for McCarthy while the congresswoman received a massage at the Metro North Shopping Center.
But McCarthy said scheduling personal appointments did not take VanSickle any time because they were routine errands that did not change from month to month. She said her staff needed to know about those appointments so that other events were not scheduled at the same time.
“I believe that's a very responsible way to be,” McCarthy said.
To reach Steve Kraske, political correspondent, call (816) 234-4312 or send
e-mail to skraske@kcstar.com.