Union Calendar No. 488

1 Union Calendar No. 488 104TH CONGRESS REPORT 2d Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 104±886 "! SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS A REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 2, 1997.ÐCommitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 39±006 WASHINGTON : 1997 COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT NANCY L. JOHNSON, Connecticut, Chairman JIM BUNNING, Kentucky JIM MCDERMOTT, Ranking Minority PORTER J. GOSS, Florida Member DAVID L. HOBSON, Ohio BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico NANCY PELOSI, California ROBERT A. BORSKI, Pennsylvania THOMAS C. SAWYER, Ohio THEODORE J. VAN DER MEID, Chief Counsel VIRGINIA H. JOHNSON, Counsel DAVID H. LAUFMAN, Counsel BERNARD RAIMO, Counsel JOHN E. VARGO, Counsel CHARLES J. WILLOUGHBY, Counsel MARGARITA MESTRE, Staff Assistant CHRISTINE S. WEINSTEIN, Systems Administrator JOANNE WHITE, Administrative Assistant (II) LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT, Washington, DC, January 2, 1997. Hon. ROBIN CARLE, Clerk, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. DEAR MS. CARLE: Pursuant to clause 1(d) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, I hereby submit to the House a report on the activities of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for the 104th Congress. Sincerely, NANCY L. JOHNSON, Chairwoman. (III) C O N T E N T S Page I. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 II. Advice and Education ................................................................................. 3 III. Financial Disclosure .................................................................................... 6 IV. Investigations .............................................................................................. 6 V. Pending Committee Business ..................................................................... 25 APPENDIX A. Advisory memoranda issued by Committee on Standards of Official Conduct during the 104th Congress ...................................................... 27 B. December 21, 1996, Statement of Alleged Violation issued in the Mat- ter of Representative Newt Gingrich ..................................................... 63 C. September 12, 1996, Statement of Alleged Violation issued in the Matter of Representative Barbara-Rose Collins ................................... 78 (V) Union Calendar No. 488 104TH CONGRESS REPORT 2d Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 104±886 "! SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIESÐONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS JANUARY 2, 1997.ÐCommitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mrs. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, submitted the following REPORT I. INTRODUCTION House Rule XI, Clause 1(d), requires each committee to submit to the House, not later than January 2 of each odd-numbered year, a report on the activities of that committee under that rule and House Rule X during the Congress ending on January 3 of that year. The jurisdiction of the Committee on Standards of Official Con- duct (``Committee'') is defined in House Rule X, Clauses 1(p) and 4(e), which state as follows: COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT RULE X, CLAUSE 1(p) (1) Measures relating to the Code of Conduct. In addition to its legislative jurisdiction under the preceding pro- vision of this paragraph (and its general oversight function under clause 2(b)(1)), the committee shall have the functions with respect to recommendations, studies, investigations, and reports which are provided for in clause 4(e), and the functions designated in titles I and V of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and sections 7342, 7351, and 7353 of title 5, United States Code. RULE X, CLAUSE 4(e) (1) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is authorized: (A) to recommend to the House from time to time such administrative actions as it may deem appro- 2 priate to establish or enforce standards of official conduct for Members, officers, and employees of the House, and any letter of reproval or other administrative action of the committee pursuant to an investigation under subdivision (B) shall be issued or implemented as a part of a report required by such subdivision; (B) to investigate, subject to subparagraph (2) of this paragraph, any alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of the Code of Official Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation, or other standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, and after notice and hearing (unless the right to a hearing is waived by the Member, officer, or employee), shall report to the House its findings of fact and recommendations, if any, upon the final disposition of any such investigation, and such action as the committee may deem appropriate in the circumstances; (C) to report to the appropriate Federal or State authorities, with the approval of the House, any sub- stantial evidence of a violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of any law applicable to the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities, which may have been disclosed in a committee investigation; (D) to give consideration to the request of any Member, officer, or employee of the House for an advisory opinion with respect to the general propriety of any cur- rent or proposed conduct of such Member, officer, or employee and, with appropriate deletions to assure the pri- vacy of the individual concerned, to publish such opinion for the guidance of other Members, officers, and employees of the House; and (E) to give consideration to the request of any Member, officer, or employee of the House for a written waiver in exceptional circumstances with respect to clause 4 of rule XLIII. (2)(A) No resolution, report, recommendation, or advisory opinion relating to the official conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House shall be made by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and no investigation of such conduct shall be undertaken by such committee, unless approved by the affirmative vote of a major- ity of the members of the committee. (B) Except in the case of an investigation undertaken by the committee on its own initiative, the committee may undertake an investigation relating to the official conduct of an individual Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives onlyÐ (i) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and under oath, made by or submitted to a Member of the House and transmitted to the committee by such Member, or (ii) upon receipt of a complaint, in writing and under oath, directly from an individual not a Member of the House if the committee finds that such complaint has been submitted by such individual to not less than three Mem- 3 bers of the House who have refused, in writing, to trans- mit such complaint to the committee. (C) No investigation shall be undertaken by the committee of any alleged violation of a law, rule, regulation, or standard of conduct not in effect at the time of the alleged violation; nor shall any investigation be undertaken by the committee of any alleged violation which occurred before the third previous Congress unless the committee deter- mines that the alleged violation is directly related to any alleged violation which occurred in a more recent Con- gress. (D) A member of the committee shall be ineligible to par- ticipate, as a member of the committee, in any committee proceeding relating to his or her official conduct. In any case in which a member of the committee is ineligible to act as a member of the committee under the preceding sentence, the Speaker of the House shall designate a Mem- ber of the House from the same political party as the ineligible member of the committee to act as a member of the committee in any committee proceeding relating to the official conduct of such ineligible member. (E) A member of the committee may disqualify himself from participating in any investigation of the conduct of a Member, officer, or employee of the House upon the sub- mission in writing and under oath of an affidavit of disqualification stating that he cannot render an impartial and unbiased decision in the case in which he seeks to disqualify himself. If the Committee approves and accepts such an affidavit of disqualification, the chairman shall so notify the Speaker and request the Speaker to designate a Member of the House from the same political party as the disqualifying member of the committee to act as a member of the committee in any committee proceeding relating to such investigation. (F) No information or testimony received, or the contents of a complaint or the fact of its filing, shall be publicly disclosed by any Committee or staff member unless specifi- cally authorized in each instance by a vote of the full Com- mittee. The Committee was organized on February 9, 1995. The full Committee held 65 meetings during 1995 and 34 meetings in 1996. In addition, an Investigative Subcommittee regarding Representa- tive Barbara-Rose Collins met 20 times during 1996, and an Inves- tigative Subcommittee regarding Representative Newt Gingrich met 40 times during 1996. II. ADVICE AND EDUCATION The Committee offers educational programs and publications to inform House Members, officers, and employees of the require- ments of the various standards, rules, and laws that govern their conduct. Additionally, the Committee responds to specific requests for advice from Members, officers, and employees on matters relating to the Code of Official Conduct and other laws, rules, and regu- 4 lations applicable to them in the conduct of their offices and the discharge of their official responsibilities. The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 (``Act'') guarantees that no one may be investigated by the Committee on the basis of information provided to the Committee while seeking an opinion about proposed conduct.

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