June 25, 2009 — An investigation was launched this week into trips to the Caribbean taken in 2007 and 2008 by five Congressional representatives, including Delegate Donna Christensen, who said Thursday that she and her staff are "fully cooperating" with the probe.
On Wednesday the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct adopted a resolution setting up an investigative sub-committee to look into the representatives’ travel to conferences held in Antigua and St. Maarten, thought to be "sponsored, funded or organized" by the Carib News Foundation, according to a statement on the committee’s website (see related links below).
When contacted Thursday, committee staff director and legal counsel Blake Chisam said he could not make a formal statement, because "House and committee rules prohibit me from commenting on matters pending before the committee."
According to the committee’s statement, however, Christensen, along with Representatives Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, D-Mich., Donald M. Payne, D-NJ, Charles Rangel, D-NY, and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, are included in the investigation. Allegations have surfaced about who funded the trips, and the investigation will focus on whether the representatives violated the House’s restrictions on privately sponsored travel, including the House Gift Rule, which prohibits members or staff from "accepting anything of value" from individuals or entities that are not allowed under the rule.
Among other things, the House’s travel rules state that members and staff may go on a multiple-day trip only if the trip "is sponsored by a private source that does not retain a registered lobbyist or agent of a foreign principal."
House members traveling on official business must have their travel approved by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and are required to submit post-travel disclosure forms 15 days after returning from a trip, according to committee staff. Attached to the forms are any letters from the committee approving the trip.
Christensen filed post-travel reports in both November of 2007 and 2008, according to reports available for public review on the Office of the Clerk of the House website.
In a statement Thursday, Christensen said she and her staff are "fully cooperating" with the ethics inquiry. The foundation’s Annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference is held at a different Caribbean locale every year and brings business and government officials together to discuss "policy issues of interest" in the region," she added.
Past conferences have been held on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
“My staff and I are confident that we followed the required procedures in regards to travel to the conference,” Christensen said. “I look forward to a quick and just resolution to the matters at hand.”
Additional articles about the investigation can be found on several business news or political watchdog sites, including the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. Representatives interviewed in the reports have said the trips were approved in advance by the committee, in accordance with House rules.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-NC, will be chairman of the subcommittee and Rep. Gresham Barrett, R. SC, will be the ranking minority member. The other two subcommittee members are Reps. Brad Miller, D-NC, and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
