Anti-Trump Rep. John Lewis Just Got DEVASTATING News

30 Jan, 2017 by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

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Rep. John Lewis, the iconic civil rights hero of the left and basher of President Trump, may be about to find himself the subject of a congressional ethics investigation. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust is asking officials to look into the actions of Lewis and his chief of staff concerning apparent violations of House ethics rules. At the heart of the matter is Lewis’ chief of staff Michael Collins’ dual roles in the congressman’s Washington office and as the treasurer for his 2016 reelection campaign. That’s a no-no. And it is being leveled that Lewis had full knowledge that he was violating House ethic’s rules.

Things have a way of catching up with you in DC. Lewis may be about to find that out the hard way. The Washington Free Beacon broke the story on Collins’ dual roles. In his personal financial disclosure statement for 2015, he reported $27,495 in income from the campaign. It’s funny how none of the dinosaur media could be bothered to actually look into this. The House Ethics Committee previously sanctioned Collins for failing to disclose or pay taxes on more than $50,000 in income from Lewis’ campaigns. Now this… one more strike and he’s out.

From the Washington Free Beacon:

A watchdog group is asking congressional ethics officials to investigate Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.) and his chief of staff over apparent violations of House ethics rules, according to a letter released on Monday.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust’s letter is asking the Office of Congressional Ethics to probe Lewis chief of staff Michael Collins’ dual roles in the congressman’s Washington office and as the treasurer for his 2016 reelection campaign.

Ethics rules bar senior House staff from serving in any fiduciary role for a political organization, and specifically mentioned campaign treasurers as a prohibited position for such staffers.

FACT’s complaint doesn’t just target Collins; it claims that Lewis himself is culpable for ethics violations by his top staffer.

“In this case, not only did Collins directly violate these rules, but Representative Lewis also violated the ethics rules because his own campaign employed Collins in a prohibited position and paid him a prohibited salary,” FACT wrote in its letter to OCE.

Collins has been paid by the campaign for work going back to 2002, though he did not serve as treasurer until the 2016 cycle. Collins’ campaign income for each year since 2012 was exactly or almost exactly the limit for senior staff outside income set by House ethics officials for those years. That’s very interesting. This won’t exactly enjoin the public’s trust.

I would say there is plenty here for the Ethics Committee to feast on and they will have numerous actions to choose from. I would suggest the OCE vigorously pursue this complaint, lest ethics rules be seen as superfluous. They could find themselves disbanded after all if they don’t do their job. The atmosphere in DC currently involves a chopping block.