SCHMIDT: ETHICS CASE NOT MY FAULT
Quan Truong
Cincinnati.com
Aug 11, 2011
U.S. Rep Jean Schmidt took no blame and said she did nothing wrong
in her dealings with a Turkish-American group that provided $500,000
in free legal services to her.
The House Ethics Committee ruled last week that Schmidt did not
“knowingly” violate any House rules or laws in taking the free legal
help from the Turkish Coalition of America and its legal arm. It
ordered her to pay it back, something Schmidt says she always planned
to do.
In a meeting with Enquirer editors and reports Tuesday, Schmidt
blamed her lawyers, the House ethics committee and people who have
“muddied the water and confused the situation.”
“I exercised all the oversight I could’ve,” Schmidt said.
While the House ethics committee cleared her, an independent board that
reviews ethics complaints and forwards them to the ethics committee,
found there was “substantial reason to believe” she had broken House
rules in accepting the $500,000 in legal fees.
That report from the Office of Congressional Ethics was included
in the full 488-page ethics report released Friday. The Office of
Congressional Ethics sent the matter to the House Ethics Committee,
which then absolved Schmidt. But the committee did say that Schmidt
could have signed a written agreement with lawyers clearly stating
who was paying for the services.
Without that agreement, there were conflicting statements about who
was footing the bill.
According to the report, Schmidt and her staff did not know the TCA
was paying the lawyers by the hour for the work they did on her case.
The ethics committee report laid the blame on the lawyers, stating they
“failed to inform her of their payment arrangement with TCA, and made
false and misleading statements to her about their relationship with
TCA and TALDF.” The committee has no power to discipline the lawyers.
In a deposition with investigators, Schmidt’s former chief of staff,
Barry Bennett, testified that they planned to pay for the legal
services. Schmidt also testified that the lawyers did not offer to
provide the legal services to her for free.
But in one of the lawyer’s depositions – identified only as lawyer 1 –
told investigators he understood the work was being done for free.
Another lawyer said they were instructed at one point to gather
invoices for the legal services because Schmidt’s office may be
reimbursing the expenses.
“However, Representative Schmidt’s office never requested the
invoices,” according to the testimony.
Schmidt has been represented by Bruce Fein and David Salzman, both
of Fein & Salzman in Washington, who are also listed as contacts on
the TALDF website. They did not return calls Thursday.
Schmidt said she was instructed by the House ethics committee not to
accept any bills until the matter was resolved.
She also added that she approached the committee for advice on how
to handle this matter in 2009. It took two years, she said, adding
“yes, I would like to see changes in the way the ethics committee
does its job.”
It was during this time, she said, that the legal bills eventually
piled up to $500,000.
Her ethics troubles began with an issue far from the 2nd Congressional
District: a longtime disagreement between Turkey and Armenia over
whether the deaths of more than a million Armenians in 1915 constituted
a “genocide” by Turks.
Schmidt wouldn’t support a congressional resolution condemning it as
“genocide.” A 2008 congressional opponent, David Krikorian of Madeira,
then accused her of accepting “blood money” from the Turkish government
to deny the Armenian genocide.
Schmidt then retained the two lawyers associated with the Turkish group
to help her file two cases against Krikorian. She accused Krikorian,
who is Armenian-American, of making false statements.
The Ohio Elections Commission sided with Schmidt in October 2009 and
issued a written reprimand to Krikorian.
Schmidt then sued Krikorian for $6.8 million in damages at the Clermont
County Common Pleas Court. That case is pending.
In 2009 Krikorian filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee
stating Schmidt violated House rules by accepting free legal services.
Ethics and legal troubles are rare for members of Greater
Cincinnati’s congressional delegation. U.S. Rep Donald E. “Buz”
Lukens, R-Middletown, was charged with bribery and conspiracy in the
late 1980s and early 1990s.
Schmidt called the report a vindication. Krikorian’s lawyers called
it an absurdity.
“Her defense is laughable, really,” Krikorian’s attorney Chris Finney
said Thursday. “You’ve got these high-priced attorneys working for
you for three years, you don’t know how much the bill is? I’ve never
in my years as an attorney had a client who didn’t care.”
The report reveals Turkish-American group paid her lawyers up to $325
an hour.
The committee has ruled that Schmidt has to repay the money, although
it did not set a deadline.
With a new election campaign, plus pending litigation in Clermont
County, Schmidt did not elaborate on how she plans to raise those
funds.
“Hopefully it’ll be in a short period of time,” she said. “Time
will tell.”
When asked if there are any changes she would make to the way she
handled the situation, she replied, “I’m sure there is, but I can’t
answer that right now….I’ve been vindicated. Now we move forward.”
Contributing: Malia Rulon
From: A. Papazian
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110811/NEWS0108/108120348/Schmidt-Ethics-case-not-my-fault?odyssey=nav%7Chead