{"id":1488873,"date":"2022-05-23T17:15:23","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1488873"},"modified":"2022-05-23T17:15:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:15:28","slug":"ethics-office-finds-substantial-reason-to-believe-republican-rep-illegally-accepted-caribbean-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ethics-office-finds-substantial-reason-to-believe-republican-rep-illegally-accepted-caribbean-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Office Finds \u2018Substantial Reason To Believe\u2019 Republican Rep Illegally Accepted Caribbean Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fethics-office-finds-substantial-reason-to-believe-republican-rep-illegally-accepted-caribbean-vacation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1488873&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Republican West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney may have illegally accepted several gifts from a campaign vendor, most notably a trip to Aruba, in violation of federal campaign finance laws, a report from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) alleges.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/sites\/ethics.house.gov\/files\/documents\/OCE%20Report%20and%20Findings_9.pdf\">report<\/a>, released Monday by the <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/press-releases\/statement-chairman-and-ranking-member-committee-ethics-regarding-representative-63\">House Ethics Committee<\/a>, finds \u201csubstantial reason to believe\u201d that Mooney and his family accepted a vacation to Aruba financed in large part by HSP Direct, a direct mail fundraising vendor. Mooney may have directed congressional staffers to help plan his trip, OCE alleges, in violation of House of Representatives ethics <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/house-ethics-manual\/gifts#_No_Bribes,_Illegal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Ethics Committee moved to extend its review of the allegations on Feb. 7. It did not announce whether or not it would take action against Mooney as a result of an investigation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Rep. Alex Mooney and his family vacationed at the Ritz-Carlton in Aruba, mostly on the dime of HSP Direct\u2014a company the lawmaker has significant personal ties to\u2014which likely constitutes an impermissible gift under House rules, according to a report by the OCE.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Marquette (@ChrisMarquette_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisMarquette_\/status\/1528802013223567363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Mooney and his family vacationed in Aruba in March 2021, a trip he claimed in an email to staffers was part of a fundraising retreat organized by HSP Direct\u2019s political action committee. However, the Aruba trip was actually a \u201cgoal setting trip for the staff,\u201d an HSP Direct employee wrote in an <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/sites\/ethics.house.gov\/files\/documents\/OCE%20Report%20and%20Findings%20Exhibits%20Part%204_1.pdf\">email<\/a> to Mooney\u2019s executive assistant, according to the report. The Mooneys were the only people on the trip not employed by HSP Direct, the report noted.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, HSP Direct paid at least $10,803.65 for the Mooney family\u2019s expenses during the vacation, according to the OCE report. Mooney reimbursed <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">$1,637.75<\/span> to HSP Direct, which he labeled on the check as related to \u201cairfare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mooney\u2019s office said in a statement that he reimbursed HSP Direct \u201cfor what the Congressman believes to be more than the value of any gift to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no improper connection between any gift and any official action by the Congressman. No taxpayer funds were used to pay for this trip,\u201d his office added, saying that he \u201clooks forward to working with the Committee on Ethics to resolve these matters.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/01\/25\/doug-lamborn-colorado-republican-congressional-ethics\/\"><strong>(RELATED: \u2018Substantial Reason\u2019 To Believe Rep. Lamborn Misused Funds, Berated Staff, Ethics Panel Finds)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mooney has paid HSP Direct $71,271.28 since 2020 for campaign services, most notably direct mail, according to Federal Election Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/disbursements\/?data_type=processed&#038;committee_id=C00629949&#038;committee_id=C00768705&#038;recipient_name=HSP+Direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">records<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Mooney\u2019s instructions to his executive assistant and other staffers may have violated rules preventing members from assigning staffers personal errands. Ethics <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/staff-rights-and-duties\/general-employment-and-compensation-provisions#duties_staff\">rules<\/a> prohibit staffers from \u201cbe[ing] compensated from public funds to perform nonofficial, personal, or campaign activities on behalf of the Member, the employee, or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mooney was <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2021\/08\/25\/ethics-office-rep-mooney-tapped-campaign-funds-for-family-vacations-fast-food\/\">forced<\/a> to pay back over $12,000 to his campaign in 2021 after OCE launched an inquiry into alleged misuse of campaign funds. Mooney allegedly spent thousands of campaign dollars on fast food and personal travel.<\/p>\n<p>Mooney, a fourth-term representative, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/05\/10\/trump-backed-west-virginia-rep-alex-mooney-hard-fought-member-versus-member-primary\/\">defeated<\/a> fellow Republican West Virginia Rep. David <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/05\/02\/joe-manchin-endorsement-republican-david-mckinley-west-virginia-primary-alex-mooney\/\">McKinley<\/a> in a May 10 primary. He is expected to be reelected easily in a deep-red seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney may have illegally accepted several gifts from a campaign vendor, most notably a trip to Aruba, in violation of federal campaign finance laws, a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":1488882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1488873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1488873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1488873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1488882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1488873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1488873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1488873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}