For House members, it's a 'Family Affair'
Majority have used funds to benefit kin

By Jerry Zremski

NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Updated: March 24, 2012, 12:23 PM

WASHINGTON -- More than half of the nation's House members have used their office budget, campaign funds or official position to benefit their family members or themselves -- but Western New York's four federal lawmakers aren't among them.

The names of Reps. Brian Higgins, Louise M. Slaughter, Kathleen C. Hochul and Tom Reed are conspicuously absent from a 347-page report released this week by Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. The report finds that 248 of the nation's 435 House members have, to varying degrees, turned serving in Congress into a family business.

Most commonly -- in 90 instances -- lawmakers used their congressional, campaign or political action committee funds to pay a family business, employer or affiliated nonprofit.

Meanwhile, 82 lawmakers paid a relative a salary, while other House members have family members working as lobbyists or have otherwise found creative ways to aid their family members.

To Melanie Sloan, executive director of the good-government group that did the "Family Affair" study, it's all rather disgusting.

"This report shows lawmakers still haven't learned it is wrong to trade on their positions as elected leaders to benefit themselves and their families," Sloan said.

It's no surprise, really, that Western New York's lawmakers are missing from the list of House members who use their office for private gain.

A 26-year House veteran, Slaughter led the charge for new ethics rules when Democrats took control of Congress in 2007. And just this week, Slaughter, D-Fairport, won her six-year fight to ban insider trading among members of Congress.

No serious ethics questions have ever arisen, either, about Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat first elected in 2004.

Hochul, D-Amherst, and Reed, R-Corning, are much newer to Washington, having been elected in 2011 and 2010, respectively.

And the only family tie that's ever been questioned about either of them involves the fact that Hochul gets more campaign money from lawyers than from any other special interest -- while she is married to William J. Hochul Jr., the U.S. attorney for Western New York.

But that's a far cry from the kind of direct family profiteering outlined in the report, which tars big-name Democrats and Republicans alike.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who's the target of a House Ethics Committee probe, paid her daughter and grandson a combined $495,650. Her daughter, Karen Waters-Titus, runs a public relations firm that did work for Waters' re-election campaign; meanwhile, Waters' grandson, serves as her congressional chief of staff.

On the Republican side, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- a frequent presidential candidate -- paid more than $300,000 in salaries or fees to his daughter, brother, grandson, daughter's mother-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law.

And that's just the tip of the sludge pile. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., used campaign funds to take his family to a wedding at a luxury resort in Scotland.

Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., reimbursed himself out of his campaign fund to the tune of $150,000, including $30,000 for hotel stays at places as far-flung as Miami and Athens, Greece.

The first-of-its kind comprehensive report is likely to do nothing to bolster the reputation of Congress, which suffers from public approval ratings far south of 20 percent.

"Conduct like this reinforces the widely held view that members of Congress are more interested in enriching themselves than in public service," Sloan said.

This conduct happens among lawmakers from other parts of New York State, too. Some 14 of the state's 29 House members are named in the report as among those that have used their position to benefit their families or themselves.

Most of the findings regarding New York lawmakers are comparatively minor, but some stand out.

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, paid his daughter's consulting firm $250,000 for work in the 2008 and 2010 elections.

And Rep. Pete King, the Seaford Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has a daughter and a sister working as lobbyists. King also has a son who serves as a public affairs consultant for foreign entities such as the Taipai, Taipei Taiwan, economic and cultural office in the U.S. and Somalia's mission to the United Nations.

The other New York lawmakers cited in the report are:

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Queens.
Rep. Anne Marie Buerkle, R-Onondaga Hill.
Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, D-Brooklyn.
Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-Queens.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley.
Rep. Steve Israel, D-Huntington.
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-Queens.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan.
Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Manhattan.
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-Brooklyn.
Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, D-Brooklyn.

The full report can be found at http://www.citizensforethics.org.

jzremski@buffnews.com

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