Leading The News
Trip to Jackson’s funeral spurs funding questions
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 07/27/09 07:44 PM [ET]
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) cross-country trip to Los Angeles for Michael Jackson’s funeral has come under scrutiny.
Jackson Lee, the only member to attend the King of Pop’s star-studded funeral in early June, hasn’t said whether she used taxpayer funds provided to her for office expenses to pay for the trip.
Lawmakers can use such funds for official business, but it’s not clear Jackson Lee was acting in an official capacity.
At the funeral, Jackson Lee delivered a framed copy of a resolution honoring Jackson as a “world humanitarian.” But that resolution caused consternation among House Democratic leaders after Jackson Lee promised during her eulogy to Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to have it debated on the House floor
Several e-mail inquiries to Jackson Lee Chief of Staff Leon Buck were not returned Thursday and Friday, and Buck’s voice mail was full on both days.
In response to a question about how she paid for the trip, Jackson Lee over the weekend told KPRC, a Houston TV station, that she used “resources that I have.”
“Well, that, those resources are resources that I have and therefore they are in a way that doesn’t interfere with anything that has to do with serving as a member of Congress,” she said.
Asked whether she used public or private funds, she repeated that she used “resources that I had.”
Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about how she paid for a 2008 trip, which involved several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), to the island of St. Martin. That trip is under investigation by the House ethics committee, which is looking into whether corporate sponsors funded it.
When KPRC asked for a detailed accounting, including receipts, of the trip to Michael Jackson’s funeral, Jackson Lee’s office cited rules exempting members of Congress from Texas open-records laws and federal Freedom of Information Act requests.
According to the Member’s Handbook, a guide published by the Committee on House Administration, lawmakers may use office funds, known as Members’ Representational Allowances (MRA), for “official travel” to conduct “representational” duties. They may not, however, use the MRA for “personal, political, or committee purposes.”
House Administration Committee spokesman Kyle Anderson said no other member has used office funds to pay for travel to a celebrity’s funeral.
“To date, MRA-paid travel to funerals has been limited to funerals of sitting members of Congress who die in office, occasionally recently retired members of the House, and former presidents,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
Jackson Lee’s resolution honoring Jackson did not have the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who nixed the idea of passing it after Republicans raised questions about the molestation charges that the pop star faced during his career. Democrats privately griped that the resolution was distracting attention from such critical priorities as healthcare and climate change legislation.
Jackson was acquitted in 2005 of charges that he molested a 13-year-old boy. Those allegations, and his admission that children slept in his bed, led some members of Congress to distance themselves from any attempt to formally honor the entertainer.
Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about the 2008 St. Martin trip. A similar CBC trip took place in 2007.
When The Hill first queried Jackson Lee’s office about the St. Martin trip, Buck said she had paid for it with personal funds. When asked for proof of those payments, Buck did not respond to calls and e-mails.
In a brief interview, Jackson Lee told The Hill that she would not discuss any matter that is under ethics committee review.
CBC members have complained about the ethics panel’s investigation into the Caribbean trip and have argued that their travel is being singled out. They say other lawmakers have gone on similar trips that skirted House rules, though the CBC members haven’t identified those trips.
In its semiannual report released a week and a half ago, the ethics committee said it is reviewing its travel rules.
“The Committee is in the process of reviewing its travel regulations,” the ethics panel wrote. “Exercising its oversight jurisdiction, the Committee, with the benefit of two years’ experience implementing the House’s travel rules, expects to revise the travel regulations in the near future.”
The stricter travel rules put in place in 2007 after Democrats regained the majority were intended to prevent trips like the now-infamous golf junkets to London and Scotland that came to light during the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
One of the main charges in the Caribbean travel allegations is that corporate sponsors directly or indirectly paid for a trip members listed as being funded by a nonprofit foundation on the required travel disclosure forms.
A foundation or nonprofit can pay for a trip lasting longer than two days under the new ethics rules, as long as corporations do not pay for any part of it or do not “earmark” funds intended for the trip. Some House staffers argue that the use of the word “earmark” is overly broad and confusing and needs to be redefined.
Trip to Jackson’s funeral spurs funding questions
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 07/27/09 07:44 PM [ET]
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) cross-country trip to Los Angeles for Michael Jackson’s funeral has come under scrutiny.
Jackson Lee, the only member to attend the King of Pop’s star-studded funeral in early June, hasn’t said whether she used taxpayer funds provided to her for office expenses to pay for the trip.
Lawmakers can use such funds for official business, but it’s not clear Jackson Lee was acting in an official capacity.
At the funeral, Jackson Lee delivered a framed copy of a resolution honoring Jackson as a “world humanitarian.” But that resolution caused consternation among House Democratic leaders after Jackson Lee promised during her eulogy to Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to have it debated on the House floor
Several e-mail inquiries to Jackson Lee Chief of Staff Leon Buck were not returned Thursday and Friday, and Buck’s voice mail was full on both days.
In response to a question about how she paid for the trip, Jackson Lee over the weekend told KPRC, a Houston TV station, that she used “resources that I have.”
“Well, that, those resources are resources that I have and therefore they are in a way that doesn’t interfere with anything that has to do with serving as a member of Congress,” she said.
Asked whether she used public or private funds, she repeated that she used “resources that I had.”
Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about how she paid for a 2008 trip, which involved several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), to the island of St. Martin. That trip is under investigation by the House ethics committee, which is looking into whether corporate sponsors funded it.
When KPRC asked for a detailed accounting, including receipts, of the trip to Michael Jackson’s funeral, Jackson Lee’s office cited rules exempting members of Congress from Texas open-records laws and federal Freedom of Information Act requests.
According to the Member’s Handbook, a guide published by the Committee on House Administration, lawmakers may use office funds, known as Members’ Representational Allowances (MRA), for “official travel” to conduct “representational” duties. They may not, however, use the MRA for “personal, political, or committee purposes.”
House Administration Committee spokesman Kyle Anderson said no other member has used office funds to pay for travel to a celebrity’s funeral.
“To date, MRA-paid travel to funerals has been limited to funerals of sitting members of Congress who die in office, occasionally recently retired members of the House, and former presidents,” he said in an e-mailed statement.
Jackson Lee’s resolution honoring Jackson did not have the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who nixed the idea of passing it after Republicans raised questions about the molestation charges that the pop star faced during his career. Democrats privately griped that the resolution was distracting attention from such critical priorities as healthcare and climate change legislation.
Jackson was acquitted in 2005 of charges that he molested a 13-year-old boy. Those allegations, and his admission that children slept in his bed, led some members of Congress to distance themselves from any attempt to formally honor the entertainer.
Jackson Lee has also refused to answer questions about the 2008 St. Martin trip. A similar CBC trip took place in 2007.
When The Hill first queried Jackson Lee’s office about the St. Martin trip, Buck said she had paid for it with personal funds. When asked for proof of those payments, Buck did not respond to calls and e-mails.
In a brief interview, Jackson Lee told The Hill that she would not discuss any matter that is under ethics committee review.
CBC members have complained about the ethics panel’s investigation into the Caribbean trip and have argued that their travel is being singled out. They say other lawmakers have gone on similar trips that skirted House rules, though the CBC members haven’t identified those trips.
In its semiannual report released a week and a half ago, the ethics committee said it is reviewing its travel rules.
“The Committee is in the process of reviewing its travel regulations,” the ethics panel wrote. “Exercising its oversight jurisdiction, the Committee, with the benefit of two years’ experience implementing the House’s travel rules, expects to revise the travel regulations in the near future.”
The stricter travel rules put in place in 2007 after Democrats regained the majority were intended to prevent trips like the now-infamous golf junkets to London and Scotland that came to light during the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
One of the main charges in the Caribbean travel allegations is that corporate sponsors directly or indirectly paid for a trip members listed as being funded by a nonprofit foundation on the required travel disclosure forms.
A foundation or nonprofit can pay for a trip lasting longer than two days under the new ethics rules, as long as corporations do not pay for any part of it or do not “earmark” funds intended for the trip. Some House staffers argue that the use of the word “earmark” is overly broad and confusing and needs to be redefined.
Source: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/trip-to-jacksons-funeral-spurs-funding-questions-2009-07-27.html
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