Chenoweth: Democrats’ Ethics Charges Just A Ruse Congresswoman Says Focus On Violations Just A Way To Fog Debate On Budget

Republican Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth on Thursday accused state and national Democrats of using ethics charges to cloud the debate on the GOP’s conservative agenda, championed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“They cannot go after us on the ideas,” Chenoweth told KIDO radio in Boise during an interview from Washington. “They’re going after us on these minor ethics violations.”

Her comments came a day after the five Republicans on the House ethics committee joined the five Democrats to find Gingrich guilty of three ethics violations and order an investigation by an independent outside counsel into possible tax law violations involving a college course Gingrich taught on politics. The panel rejected several other allegations.

Gingrich is also the target of Federal Election Commission charges that the political action committee he headed violated campaign finance laws.

A similar complaint against Chenoweth has been filed by state Democrats over an unsecured $40,000 West One Bank loan that her campaign committee misrepresented for eight months as a personal loan from Chenoweth herself.

Chenoweth said simply that Gingrich had done nothing wrong, arguing that it was not inappropriate for the speaker to teach young people about the virtues of the American dream.

“The only thing they can go after someone like the speaker or a lowly freshman like me is ethics,” Chenoweth said. “They’re after me on a very legal bank loan. That’s the way it is through the entire class.”

Chenoweth borrowed the $40,000 from West One Bank on Nov. 23, 1994, to cover post-election campaign expenses. She was not required to pledge any collateral or obtain a guarantor or co-signer even though the loan amount was the equivalent of 20 percent of her total personal assets.

Under federal election laws, which a bank officer must acknowledge, congressional candidates cannot be given any more favorable loan conditions than a bank offers other customers in similar financial situations.

Those laws also require bank loans to be either secured by collateral, a guarantor or a formal pledge of future campaign contributions unless the Federal Election Commission approves an alternative repayment arrangement. The commission has no record of such approval in Chenoweth’s case.

In addition, the bank loan was identified on required campaign finance disclosure reports filed last December, January, and August as a personal loan from Chenoweth to the campaign, which would not be subject to the restrictions imposed on bank loans.

The campaign finally acknowledged the cash came from West One Bank after it was asked to explain two $3,000 interest payments it reported making to the bank during the first half of 1995.

Because of the legal questions raised by the loan and how it was handled for nearly a year, Chenoweth refinanced it with a seven-year second mortgage on her Boise home.