Delegate Donna Christensen and three other congressional representatives targeted in a federal probe were cleared this week of charges that they violated House ethics rules on privately sponsored travel by attending conferences held in the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.
In June 2009, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct adopted a resolution setting up an investigative subcommittee to look into the representatives’ travel to conferences held in Antigua and St. Maarten thought to be sponsored, funded and organized by the Carib News Foundation.
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.
The subcommittee issued its report Thursday evening, ruling that Christensen — along with representatives Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), Donald M. Payne( D-NJ) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) — did not "knowingly violate any provision of the Code of Official Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to each individual’s conduct in the performance of his or her duties or the discharge of his or her duties with respect to the acceptance of payment or reimbursement for travel to either or both of the Carib News conferences in 2007 and 2008.”
But a statement from Christensen’s office Friday says the group will still have to reimburse the government for their travel expenses, which were deemed "impermissible" by the subcommittee since the foundation failed to report who was actually bankrolling the events.
When contacted Friday, Christensen noted the same conference was hosted in the territory twice before, bringing at least 12 to 13 congressmen to St. Thomas and St. Croix.
"The conference has always been worthwhile," she added, saying that it promotes networking between small and big businesses, and discussion between heads of governments on common challenges.
The spotlight still remains on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) — also included in the investigation — who told various national news outlets that he had been "admonished" by the committee after it found that two of Rangel’s staffers knew that corporate sponsors were financing the trip.
An article on TheHill.com reported this week that the Carib News Foundation had received corporate donations from Citigroup, American Airlines, Verizon, Pfizer and other businesses but did not disclose that the money was intended to cover the cost of the conferences.
Rangel, head of the House Ways and Means Committee and a big supporter of the territory on Capitol Hill, has told the press that the trip was given the all clear by the ethics panel beforehand, and that the subcommittee’s report would make it clear that he has "not been found guilty of anything."
