U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house is the subject of a congressional ethics probe, the Los Angeles Times reports this morning.
Times Staff Writer Jeff Gottlieb writes:
A Richardson spokesman declined comment.U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson's rundown Sacramento house, which became the scourge of the neighborhood and a sore point with an investor who thought he had bought it out of foreclosure, has drawn the interest of a House ethics panel.
The Office of Congressional Ethics contacted real estate investor James York, who bought Richardson's house at a foreclosure auction last year, only to have Washington Mutual take it back after he had recorded the deed and return the house to the congresswoman.
The office also has interviewed at least two of the Long Beach Democrat's Sacramento neighbors, asking about their efforts -- and their expenses -- to tidy up the front- and backyards of Richardson's two-story house. The city declared the house a public nuisance on one occasion and "blighted" on another.
Leo Wise, staff director and chief counsel of the ethics office, said its policy was to neither confirm nor deny investigations. He said House members are notified when their activities are reviewed.
