House Panel Contradicts Weldon on Ethics Flap

Just-departed Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) was cited by the House ethics committee for improperly accepting $23,000 worth of travel last summer, but has so far failed to repay that amount, according to a new statement from the panel.

The statement, released today, contradicts earlier claims by Weldon’s lawyer that the committee had “apparently” cleared the congressman of wrongdoing in the affair.

In October, McClatchy Newspapers reported Weldon’s personal attorney William Canfield told a report that the ethics committee had “apparently dismissed the matter because he’s heard nothing in more than two years.”

Yet the statement from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and ranking member Howard Berman (D-CA), states, “We therefore concluded in the middle of this year [sic], and advised Representative Weldon, that he was required to repay to the donors certain expenses of that trip, which exceeded $23,000.”

According to the statement, Weldon has yet to show he has repaid the costs of the trip, which took him to Belgrade.

The jaunt, which Weldon took with his daughter Karen, was partially arranged by two Serbian businessmen with ties to former dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Karen later became a lobbyist for a foundation run by the two men, who are brothers, and Weldon attempted to convince the State Department to issue visas for the duo.

At least four other people, including Weldon’s wife, accompanied the former congressman and his daughter. In addition to Belgrade, the group stopped in Moscow and Vienna, Austria, according to Weldon’s lawyer.

The trip is now the subject of a federal investigation. Weldon lost his re-election bid in November to Democrat Joe Sestak. Shortly after news of the investigation broke in October, the FBI raided daughter Karen’s Pennsylvania home.

Update: A belated thanks to Reader BK for catching the ethics committee statement.

Late Update: According to Canfield, Weldon’s lawyer, the trip was paid for by “either the Russian government or members of the [Russian] Academy of Sciences.”