The House Ethics Committee announced Tuesday that it has consigned a raft of allegations against Rep. Alan Grayson to investigative limbo, essentially guaranteeing the matter will not be resolved before the Aug. 30 primary for the U.S. Senate seat he is seeking.
In making its announcement, the committee also released a report by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics concluding that Grayson may have violated House rules by operating hedge funds that bore his name, using his congressional office to support both the hedge funds and his Senate race, and failing to disclose income and assets on his annual financial disclosure forms.
Grayson's Senate campaign released a statement welcoming the Ethics Committee decision, saying "the politically motivated allegations against Grayson are utterly frivolous." Grayson claims the OCE investigation is the result of a "disturbing and illegal collusion between OCE staff and the official staff of Rep. Patrick Murphy," the Florida Democrat who is running against Grayson for the Democratic nomination to replace Sen. Marco Rubio. Grayson said he is asking the Ethics Committe to investigate whether there was improper communication between OCE and Murphy's office.
Murphy's campaign did not immediately respond to that charge.
On a conference call with reporters, Grayson said his investments were a " family and friends" fund, with no fiduciary responsibility and no income generated. "I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars" on legal advice "to make sure that I was adhering to the rules," he said.
The OCE — which is charged with reviewing ethics cases and recommending further action to the Ethics Committee — recommended that the committee investigate a half dozen allegations against Grayson. House rules bar lawmakers from having any outside employment or lending their name to any business that creates a "fiduciary responsibility" to others. OCE argues that Grayson's direct involvement with several hedge funds violated this rule. The report also suggested that Grayson was having his congressional office manager work on matters relating to the hedge funds and Grayson's personal finances during regular office hours. OCE also found that Grayson conducted some campaign interviews from his congressional office.
The Ethics Committee announced Tuesday that it will continue to gather information on the case, but it did not launch an investigative subcommittee, which is the normal prelude to any actual enforcement action. These information gathering efforts by the committee have no deadlines for action and generally result in no further public announcement in the case.
