Politico goes there, citing unnamed black lawmakers who see a racial disparity in the recent actions of the House Ethics Committee. South Bay Reps. Laura Richardson and Maxine Waters were referred for full investigations last week, bringing the number of black lawmakers under scrutiny to seven:
What especially galled black lawmakers was that the ethics committee voted to move forward with the Waters and Richardson probes following the OCE referrals, while Graves -- who OCE also thought should be investigated by the ethics committee -- saw his case dismissed...
Waters, who voted against the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics, is said to particularly livid that her case was referred."It is kind of crazy," said an aide to one senior black Democrat. "How can it be that the ethics committee only investigates African-Americans? It doesn't make sense."
The article also cites an unnamed lawmaker who says that Congressional Black Caucus members make "easy targets" for ethics groups because they don't have as much money to defend themselves as white members do:
Again, I don't know who Politico's source is, but it does seem notable that Harman's wealth keeps surfacing as a point of resentment among her fellow Democrats.
For the record, CREW did file a complaint about Harman's wiretapped phone call, and the House Ethics document that leaked last week showed that the committee followed up on it.
"A lot of that has to do with outside watchdog groups like [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] that have to have a level of success to justify OCE," the CBC member said...
But these same groups won't go after Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), this lawmaker claimed, "because she has plenty of money to defend herself," and the outside groups don't want to take a risk. The Democrat said the ethics committee would be going up against Harman's lawyers and "going up against" the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee if they push the OCE to pressure the ethics committee to act.I don't know who this unnamed lawmaker is, but this line of argument sounds similar to one advanced last year by Richardson. In explaining why she was defaulting on her mortgages, Richardson pointed out that unlike Harman, she is not fortunate enough to be independently wealthy.
Again, I don't know who Politico's source is, but it does seem notable that Harman's wealth keeps surfacing as a point of resentment among her fellow Democrats.
For the record, CREW did file a complaint about Harman's wiretapped phone call, and the House Ethics document that leaked last week showed that the committee followed up on it.
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