The House of Representatives Ethics Committee said Thursday that it had ordered Representative David Schweikert, Republican of Arizona, to pay a $ 50,000 fine and face a reprimand by the House of Representatives after discovering that he violated 11 ethics rules. of the camera.
The committee said Mr. Schweikert had accepted the sanction as part of an agreement to end a two-year investigation that found “substantial reason to believe” that violated House of Representatives rules, the Code of Ethics for the Service of the Government, federal laws and other regulations. .
The panel cited Mr. Schweikert for violations and errors in campaign finance in the reports of his campaign committees; misuse of your allocation to Congress; pressuring official staff members to carry out campaign work; and his “lack of openness and due diligence” during the investigation.
House investigators discovered that Mr. Schweikert’s campaign had violated campaign finance laws by accepting more than $ 270,000 from his then chief of staff. The former chief of staff also testified that he was pressured to raise money for the congressman’s campaign, according to a committee report.
The investigation also found that between 2011 and 2018, at least four members of Mr. Schweikert’s Congressional staff paid for personal items or expenses for Mr. Schweikert, including food and childcare services, and were then reimbursed for Mr. Schweikert’s campaign. .
Between January 2011 and November 2017, Mr. Schweikert’s official resources, including his office funds, staff time, and congressional office space, were also misused for unofficial and campaign purposes, he said. the committee in a report.
And the Ethics Committee said Mr. Schweikert “made vague or misleading statements” to his Investigation Subcommittee, or ISC, which allowed him “to evade the statute of limitations for the most flagrant violations of campaign finance laws.”
“Efforts like those that Representative Schweikert undertook to delay and impede the ISC investigation were not only highly damaging to the Committee’s work and the House’s reputation, but were also punishable misconduct,” the committee said in the report. .
Grace White, a spokeswoman for the congressman, released a statement that did not directly address the panel’s findings. Schweikert, who was first elected on the 2010 Tea Party wave, is seeking reelection for a sixth term in November.
“We are pleased that the committee has issued its report and we can move forward from this chapter,” the statement said. “As noted in the review, all issues have been resolved and Congressman Schweikert will continue to work hard for the 6th District of Arizona.”
Mr. Schweikert, 58, is a member of the Ways and Means Committee and has been active as a member of the conservative group House Freedom Caucus. In 2012, he defeated Representative Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, in a Republican primary in a newly drawn Congressional district.
The House Ethics Committee began its investigation in 2018 after receiving a series of allegations involving Schweikert’s chief of staff at the time, Richard Oliver Schwab, including reports that Mr. Schwab may have misused or authorized the misuse of the resources of the Chamber.
During its investigation, the committee interviewed 18 people, issued four subpoenas, and received 200,000 pages of documents. Schweiker also voluntarily answered questions under oath, the panel said.
The investigation found that between January 2011 and July 2018, Schwab spent more than $ 270,000 of his personal funds on behalf of the Schweikert campaign, in violation of campaign finance laws that prohibit House employees from contributing to the campaigns of their bosses.
Mr. Schweikert’s campaign then reimbursed Mr. Schwab through various means, including by writing checks to Mr. Schwab’s private consulting firm, the committee’s investigators wrote in a report.
The investigation also found that Schweikert’s campaign for Congress reported in January 2012 that Mr. Schweikert had loaned him $ 100,000 of his personal funds. However, no such loan was made, the researchers said.
Mr. Schweikert’s campaign then erroneously reported $ 100,000 in disbursements to cover the incorrectly reported loan and to allow his campaign to adjust his bank accounts in late 2012, the investigation found.
Representative Schweikert has attempted to present himself as an unknown participant or victim in response to many of these allegations and tried to place much of the blame at the feet of Mr. Schwab and the trusted compliance professionals oversee their campaign committees. ” Investigators said in a report.
The investigators, however, wrote that “they were not influenced by Representative Schweikert’s attempts to portray himself as the victim of corrupt personnel and incompetent compliance professionals.”
Ethical violations could become a problem for Schweikert’s reelection campaign, according to Kim Fridkin, a professor of political science at Arizona State University. Polls have shown that President Trump could be a drag on some Republican candidates, as moderate suburban voters and seniors have deteriorated in their behavior.
Mr. Schweikert “could be potentially vulnerable, especially given national trends and the trend in Arizona that could affect lower-vote races,” said Professor Fridkin. “Anything that makes voters reconsider their party’s vote could change their perspectives.”
Schweikert represents a traditionally Republican district that stretches from the far north of Scottsdale to several conservative suburbs. They include Paradise Valley, which was the home of the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. President Trump won the district by 10 points in 2016.
Four Democrats are running for the Aug. 4 primary in hopes of winning the seat in November. The best-funded among them is Hiral Tipirneni, an emergency room doctor, who lost a 2018 special election in Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District.
Dr. Tipirneni wasted no time attacking the committee’s findings on Thursday, writing on Twitter that Mr. Schweikert had “violated his oath, disrespected us, abused his power and broke our trust.”
