(RepublicanInformer.com)- A government watchdog group said recently that Representative Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, could’ve violated ethics rules that apply to all members of Congress.
The group, Americans for Public Trust, said recently that a senior staffer for the congressman could be providing legal services to him. If that is indeed the case, it would be in violation of the very basic House rules.
On their website, the House Committee on Ethics states:
“The outside employment restrictions define certain activities for which senior staff (as well as House Members and officers) may not receive any compensation whatsoever.
“The restrictions prohibit senior staff from, among other things, (1) receiving compensation for practicing any profession that involves a fiduciary responsibility, including, for example, law or accounting, or (2) serving for compensation as an officer or director of any entity.”
When he was a senior staff member for Nadler between the years of 2019 to 2021, Robert Gottheim apparently was paid for certain work.
Data from the Federal Elections Commission shows that, between those years, Gottheim received more than $81,000 from Nadler. On the forms, the money was listed as for “legal and political consulting.”
If it is indeed proven that he was paid for legal consulting, then this would be a major violation of ethics rules in the House.
Not surprisingly, the Nadler campaign denied that they did anything wrong at all. A representative for the campaign told Fox News that Gottheim “doesn’t practice law in any capacity, including the campaign.”
They continued:
“He’s a campaign advisor, which doesn’t have any fiduciary responsibility. When the campaign files the quarterly reports, the treasurer must choose a category to list his expenditures, so they chose ‘legal & strategic advising.” He’s a strategic advisor, not a lawyer.”
Gottheim has a bio listed on the website for Nadler, who’s a Democrat representing the West Side of New York City. It says that he serves as the campaign’s treasurer, and that he’s worked for the Nadler for Congress campaign since back in 1997, as counsel.
His bio also seems to contradict what the campaign representative told Fox News. As the Western Journal pointed out, Gottheim’s bio says he’s “handling all campaign finances & compliance issues with the FEC.” That could end up being duties that a senior staff member would be prohibited from doing for a member of the House.
Fox News further reported that Gottheim has been getting paid for providing services from as far back as 2003. However, he didn’t meet the threshold to be a “senior staffer” until a few years ago in 2019. So, the years before then that he was paid would not have been an ethics violation.
Caitlin Sutherland, who serves as the executive director of the APT, went off on Nadler because she believes he violated House law. She said:
“Jerry Nadler brags about being the ‘conscience of the House,’ yet he can’t even ensure that his top staffer is in compliance with simple House ethics rules. It is absolutely against the law to be compensated for campaign work that involves fiduciary duties, and accordingly, we will look into filing a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics.”
