Embattled Rep. Chuck Edwards has filed a formal complaint against the top Republican and Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, alleging procedural rules violations and seeking an independent investigation and public apology.
The North Carolina Republican, who was found by the committee to have engaged in improper workplace behavior with female staffers, said that there “was nothing ethical about this process.”
“The Ethics Committee demanded that I be punished for supposedly violating the ’letter and spirit’ of House rules while its own leaders treated those same rules as optional,” he said in a Tuesday statement. “They decided the outcome, adopted their report before receiving my response, denied me the procedures designed to test their accusations, and then publicly attacked my character based on findings that were never subjected to an adjudicatory hearing or the required clear-and-convincing-evidence standard.”
The House voted 413-2 to censure Mr. Edwards following the committee’s August report that found he engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female staffers.
Allegations included commenting on the aides’ appearances, inviting them to dinners and personal vacations, sending notes of “effusive affection” and lavishing them with gifts, such as jewelry, designer items and firearms.
Investigators noted that both women expressed discomfort with the behavior, feeling constrained by the power dynamic with their boss.
Mr. Edwards, 66, denied any romantic or sexual intent, arguing that his actions amounted to a close but platonic workplace friendship rather than sexual misconduct.
Days after the committee released its findings and recommended discipline, he announced he would abandon his reelection campaign.
Now, he is pointing the finger at committee Chair Michael Guest, Mississippi Republican, and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier of California, the top Democrat on the panel.
By the time the ethics panel voted to adopt its report on July 22, Mr. Edwards said his appended response came after it had already decided, calling it “not due process.”
“It shamelessly abandons the Committee’s claim to ’provide a fair procedural framework for the conduct of the Committee’s activities,’” he said. “It was window dressing intended to create the appearance of fairness after the verdict had already been written.”
What’s more, the complaint alleges that former staffers did not feel that Mr. Edwards’ behavior was inappropriate, but instead, they were “excited” for trips.
Mr. Edwards contends that because the committee’s report found no sexual activity, no explicit sexual proposition, no quid pro quo harassment and no violation of federal sexual-harassment law, it relied on “insinuation, selective evidence, and subjective assumptions.”
His complaint, sent to the Office of Congressional Conduct, asks for an independent investigation into whether Mr. Guest and Mr. DeSaulnier violated House standards. It also requests a “correction of the public record,” along with appropriate disciplinary action and a public apology for the “grave and lasting damage inflicted upon Edwards’ character, dignity, reputation, family, and public service.”
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