Statement of Chairman Joel Hefley and Ranking Minority Member Alan B. Mollohan on Their Determinations Regarding the Conduct of Representative Karen McCarthy

Members involved

• Karen McCarthy (D-MO)

Statement

Late last year we commenced fact-gathering under Committee Rule 18(a) regarding news media reports that Representative Karen McCarthy had used campaign funds to pay for a trip to New York City in February 2003 during which she attended the Grammy A wards ceremony. Our concern was that such use of campaign funds may have violated clause 6 of House Rule 23, which provides that a Member may not convert campaign funds to personal use and must use those funds for “bona fide campaign or political purposes.” While Representative McCarthy, through counsel, made a number of submissions to us asserting that her use of campaign funds to pay the expenses of that trip was proper, she failed to provide information we requested regarding the activities other than attendance at the Grammy Awards in which she engaged while in New York. In view of her failure to establish that her trip had “bona fide campaign or political purposes,” we concluded in the middle of this year, and advised Representative McCarthy, that she was required to repay the expenses of that trip to her campaign account using personal funds.

Documents

• Statement on ethics.house.gov
• Document 1 (PDF)

More

• All House ethics statements