Money and politics in Rep. Fitzpatrick’s faux pas

Unfortunately for Rep. Mike Fitzgerald (R-PA), the fundraising scheme that he and his team put together, highlighted by a party in the Capitol to celebrate his swearing-in, has landed him in hot water. Turns out that the invite to the event clearly asked for a contribution to Fitzpatrick’s campaign committee. Fundraising in the Capitol complex is a big no-no, prohibited by both laws and House rules. The law allows Members to hold swearing-in receptions in House offices, paid for by campaign contributions, but not fundraisers.

{mosads}To make matters worse, Rep. Fitzpatrick and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, missed the swearing-in ceremony on the House floor. Rep. Fitzpatrick, who served in the House previously, and Rep. Sessions, a member of the Leadership, can’t claim to have made a rookie mistake. 

The amounts involved are small potatoes, and there was probably no intent to violate rules prohibiting fundraising in the Capitol (the $30 was charged to cover the bus fare to Washington). However, there is much confusion about whether or not rules and laws were violated. That is why it is important for the Office of Congressional Ethics and the House Ethics Committee to examine exactly what happened, to make clear public statements about what Rep. Fitzpatrick did wrong, and to provide Members with specific guidance on how to avoid replication of this situation.  

In the Fitzpatrick case, the OCE should, on its own initiative, collect the facts, and the Ethics Committee should point out where mistakes were made so that other Members will not repeat these missteps.  

The Fitzpatrick faux pas is likely to turn out as an unwitting mistake, but it is illustrative of just how much the money-raising machinery is part and parcel of congressional daily life. Choosing to spend time with contributors rather than performing one’s sworn duties as an elected Member of the U.S. House of Representatives is sadly indicative of the skewed priorities of too many elected officials in Washington today.