{"id":1491000,"date":"2022-05-25T07:29:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T11:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1491000"},"modified":"2022-05-25T07:30:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T11:30:36","slug":"atf-nominee-steve-dettelbachs-congress-sex-scandal-work-raises-ethics-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/atf-nominee-steve-dettelbachs-congress-sex-scandal-work-raises-ethics-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"ATF Nominee Steve Dettelbach\u2019s Congress Sex Scandal Work Raises Ethics Questions"},"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\">22<\/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%2Fatf-nominee-steve-dettelbachs-congress-sex-scandal-work-raises-ethics-questions%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=1491000&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--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>President Biden\u2019s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is facing ethics questions about his work for a client during the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2006\/10\/04\/sick-new-foley-e-mails-had-virtual-sex-with-teen-between-votes\/\">Mark Foley congressional page sex scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of Steve Dettelbach question his decision to take the gig \u2014 in which he curtailed questioning of his client by House investigators \u2014 and say his work may have violated congressional rules on gifts.<\/p>\n<p>Dettelbach, whose Senate confirmation hearing is Wednesday, represented Patrick Baugh, an aide for then-Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who knew of an inappropriate interaction between Foley and a page five years before the Florida congressman\u2019s misconduct publicly surfaced in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>Dettelbach\u2019s work on the case was a point of pride as he ascended to prominence in corporate law \u2014 and it even was <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20090318050226\/http:\/www.bakerlaw.com\/StevenMDettelbach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the very first bullet point<\/a> on a list of experience attached to his law firm biography for years afterward. Dettelbach ultimately reached the upper echelons of the US legal community and earned more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/partner-pay-watch-bakerhostetlers-dettelbach-picked-atf-head-2022-05-20\/#:~:text=(Reuters)%20%2D%20Veteran%20criminal%20defense,of%20Alcohol%2C%20Tobacco%2C%20Firearms%2C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$1.7 million<\/a> last year as a partner at BakerHostetler.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSteve Dettelbach\u2019s time representing Patrick Baugh in the notorious Foley page sex scandal demonstrates a complete lack of moral judgment,\u201d said Tom Jones, president of the conservative American Accountability Foundation. \u201cMr. Baugh and his boss had evidence that former Congressman Mark Foley preyed on underage children, yet they refused to expose him.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/mark-foley-congressman-2006.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption>Dettelbach is a partner at top law firm BakerHostetler.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster, File<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Baugh also said Dettelbach acted to shield him from questions he felt strayed too far from central issues about Foley\u2019s misconduct, though he couldn\u2019t remember what those questions entailed. The official committee report doesn\u2019t address the matter.<\/p>\n<p>According to the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/congressional-report\/109th-congress\/house-report\/733\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> lengthy committee report <\/a>on the Foley scandal, a former page who was a college freshman at the time contacted Kolbe in 2001 after Foley made reference to his penis size in an instant message. The ex-page said he emailed a copy of the IM to Kolbe\u2019s personal email account, according to the report, though Kolbe claimed he didn\u2019t see the IM and that the ex-page may have told Baugh first.<\/p>\n<p>The report says Baugh, at Kolbe\u2019s direction, communicated the complaint to Foley\u2019s chief of staff. Foley shortly afterward apologized to the young man and the matter ultimately didn\u2019t make headlines until 2006 when a pattern of predatory sexually charged messages to teen pages forced Foley\u2019s resignation. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/jim-kolbe-congressman-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/jim-kolbe-congressman-1.jpg\" alt=\"Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., makes an anouncment to the media as from left, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrap up a news conference announcing The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005.\" class=\"wp-image-22396721\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/jim-kolbe-congressman-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/jim-kolbe-congressman-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/jim-kolbe-congressman-1.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Rep. Jim Kolbe learned of Foley\u2019s inappropriate\u00a0conduct from an ex-page in 2001.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Baugh told the committee and The Post he never saw the IM that Foley wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Foley\u2019s misconduct primarily comprised inappropriate messages. However, press reports indicate the lawmaker had sex with at least two ex-pages <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/archives\/la-xpm-2006-oct-08-na-page8-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">after they turned 18<\/a>. Kolbe, who served as an openly gay congressman from 1996 until he retired in 2007, had his own conduct scrutinized, including a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2006\/POLITICS\/10\/13\/kolbe.inquiry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1996 camping trip<\/a> with two former pages, but no specific allegation of misconduct emerged.<\/p>\n<p>Baugh, who supports Dettelbach\u2019s nomination, unwittingly armed Republican critics with leads when he responded to a Facebook message from Jones, a former GOP Hill staffer and opposition researcher.<\/p>\n<p>Baugh confirmed the authenticity of the messages to The Post.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter alignright\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\tKeep up with today&#8217;s most important news\t\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\tStay up on the very latest with Evening Update.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Baugh wrote to Jones that he may have received a \u201cgood deal\u201d from Dettelbach and that \u201c[b]asically he handled pro bono \u2014 I paid a fraction of what other staff (like [the chief of staff for Kolbe]) paid.\u201d He recalled paying a \u201c[f]lat fee\u201d and speculated that Dettelbach\u2019s \u201cfirm probably chalked the rest of his time up to pro bono work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baugh also wrote in a Facebook message to Jones that Dettelbach \u201chad me stop\u201d answering the committee\u2019s questions when he believed they \u201cstarted veering off course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In conservations with The Post, Baugh said that his memory is foggy and that \u201cI called it pro bono but I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s truly pro bono.\u201d He said that based on his own experience working at a law firm, he believes Dettelbach may have billed a lower rate because \u201cattorneys look for interesting work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baugh added it\u2019s conceivable that Dettelbach, with whom he met a couple of times before he faced questioning, did less work for him than other attorneys did for his colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>Dettelbach told The Post through a Justice Department spokeswoman, \u201cThis was not a probono [sic] matter. The client was charged.\u201d He did not specify the rate, however, or say if it was discounted.<\/p>\n<p>Ethics expert Kedric Payne, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and a former deputy chief counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics, said that staffers aren\u2019t allowed to receive discounted legal representation under House rules, which set out limited <a href=\"https:\/\/ethics.house.gov\/house-ethics-manual\/gifts#_Pro_Bono_Legal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">permissible circumstances<\/a> for accepting unpaid legal assistance.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe Office of Congressional Ethics and the Committee on Ethics has a track record of enforcing these rules about receiving pro bono or discounted legal services,\u201d Payne said. \u201cUnlike other ethics rules, these rules are enforced and they have clear guidelines such that people should be able to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rules bear on the recipient of legal services and can result in a requirement that the staffer or lawmaker in question pay the market rate for services, Payne said. They can also face additional sanctions, such as a letter of reprimand.<\/p>\n<p>Jones said that Dettelbach should have known about the ethics rules, even if they bound only the conduct of his client.<\/p>\n<p>Former officials who worked with Dettelbach said they disagreed with Jones\u2019 claim that he in any way would have condoned Foley\u2019s conduct, pointing to his office\u2019s prosecution of about 50 trafficking cases.<\/p>\n<p>Carole Rendon, who succeeded Dettelbach as US attorney in Cleveland before becoming one of his colleagues at\u00a0BakerHostetler, said that his \u201cstrong record prosecuting dozens of cases and putting predators behind bars, underscores his commitment to protecting women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Former FBI supervisor Dave Dustin said, \u201cSteve Dettelbach used the power of the federal government and federal statutes to combat juvenile sex trafficking and child exploitation like never before during his time as U.S. Attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baugh, who still works as an administrative aide for multiple offices on Capitol Hill, told The Post that Dettelbach did curtail the questions of investigators but that he could not recall the details.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt some point, he said, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re done,&#8217;\u201d Baugh recalled of the committee grilling. \u201cThey recessed and he went and spoke with their counsel and came back and said, \u2018We\u2019re done.\u2019 And that was the end of the hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Baugh said that Dettelbach objected because the focus drifted from \u201cwhat he believed to be the purvey of the hearing\u201d and that he believes he answered the most relevant questions.<\/p>\n<p>If confirmed, Dettelbach would be the top official in charge of federal gun investigations and policy \u2014 a role that evokes fear particularly from gun rights advocates. Biden\u2019s previous ATF nominee, David Chipman, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/09\/white-house-to-withdraw-david-chipman-nomination-for-atf\/\">flopped last year <\/a>due to the qualms of Senate Democratic centrists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Biden\u2019s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is facing ethics questions about his work for a client during the Mark Foley congressional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":498,"featured_media":2315279,"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-1491000","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\/1491000","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\/498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}