WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on conclusions from the Office of Congressional Ethics on Rep. John Duncan Jr. (all times local):
5 p.m.
Republican Rep. John Duncan Jr. of Tennessee is disputing the findings of an ethics review that said he appeared to have misspent more than $100,000 in campaign and leadership political action committee on personal expenses.
Duncan said Wednesday that he can assure people that every penny spent by his campaign was done to help him politically.
The Office of Congressional Ethics referred Duncan’s case to the House Ethics Committee, which is reviewing the matter. The OCE’s report cited as questionable payments for family members to go to a resort in West Virginia and to inaugural ceremonies last year.
Duncan says he’s convinced it was legal and ethical to pay their expenses because of their campaign work for him. Even so, Duncan says he reimbursed his campaign for any expenses that appeared in the slightest way personal.
___
2:05 p.m.
An independent ethics office says a Tennessee congressman, Republican John Duncan Jr., may have improperly converted more than $100,000 from his campaign committee and leadership political action committee to personal use.
The conclusions from the Office of Congressional Ethics were released Wednesday by the House ethics committee, which says it’s continuing to review the matter.
The office says about one-quarter of the questionable spending came in the form of travel, including a three-night trip to West Virginia’s Greenbrier resort by Duncan, his family and campaign supporters who were friends. The ethics office said the 2014 trip primarily was recreational.
Lawyers representing Duncan dispute the findings and say the expenses in question were for “bona fide campaign or political purposes.” The lawyers are calling on the ethics committee to dismiss the matter.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.