Earlier, we noted Jeffrey Shockey’s lawyers’ line blaming the ethics committee because neither they nor Shockey’s boss, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), ever received a written opinion blessing Shockey’s suspect arrangement.
Well, a Democratic Hill staffer writes in to say hogwash. His boss — a member of the minority — wanted advice, and with a little bit of prodding and patience they got it:
Just my two cents: what he is saying really does not make sense. During the EXACT SAME TIME PERIOD, our office had questions about whether our boss could serve on an advisory board of an activist group. We called the ethics committee and asked. The response: “hmmmm. That seems a little complicated. We would be more comfortable researching it and giving you a written opinion. It sounds like it could be OK, but we can’t really give a definitive response without processing an advisory opinion.” I would assume the questions about his severance package were at least as complicated as our question and would have received the same response.
Then, we had to wait. I called every couple of weeks to follow up. All told, we waited about three months before the response was received.
So, in my opinion, there is no way the ethics committee would have given an oral approval for something like this.
So the committee responds to Democrats’ entreaties, but not to those from one of the most powerful Republicans in the House, his staffer, or his staffer’s lawyers?
Update: A campaign finance lawyer writes in to TPM to agree.
