Dreier Corrects Ethics Filing

By Monrovia Weekly

Published: Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Warner camp calls assertion that the erroneous filing was a mistake “absurd.”

By Charles Cooper

Congressman David Dreier, 27-year incumbent in the 26th District, confirmed this week he had corrected erroneous filings with the House Ethics Committee on financial earnings for four years.
The error, cited in an article in Roll Call, a newspaper covering Capitol Hill, was trumpeted by Democratic opponent Russ Warner as an example of the “scandal-plagued culture of corruption” in Washington.
According to Roll Call, Dreier failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in profits he made on stock sales over the past three years.
Dreier was reportedly one of more than a dozen members who reported stock sales without reporting any income for the sales.
A total of 86 transactions were included, with 35 of them involving less than $200 and exempt from reporting.
Jo Maney, aide to Dreier, said, “All of Mr. Dreier’s financial disclosure forms were approved by the ethics committee at the time of their submission and no requests for amendments were made. While all transactions were disclosed on the forms, the inadvertent omissions were the result of the belief that capital gains generated by actual transactions belonged on Schedule IV of the form, and capital gains generated by other means belonged on Schedule III. An amendment to the form has been filed.”
Roll Call reported the income, stated in range of dollars, was between $85,000 and $263,000. Maney said the actual amount was “nearer the low end.”
Kristin Ponts, campaign manager for Warner, said, “The idea that David Dreier, who has been in Congress for 27 years, wouldn’t know how to fill out a basic financial disclosure form is absurd.”
Warner said, “I guess it’s no surprise given these repeated failures to comply with House ethics rules that David Dreier just recently voted against the tough new ethics rules the House of Representatives just passed.”
The reference was to the recent creation of an independent house ethics office, approved by a 229-182 vote with opposition from most Republicans.

Posted by Monrovia Weekly on Mar 27th, 2008 and filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.