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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
14, 1999 2:15 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Common Cause Jeff Cronin or John Anthony, 202-736-5770 |
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| Common Cause Urges House Ethics Committee To Include New Allegations In Investigation Of House Transportation Chair Bud Shuster | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- January 14 -
Common Cause today renewed its call for the House Ethics Committee to examine
whether Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA), Chair of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, violated House rules by accepting lavish lodging and
dinners. In March 1996, Common Cause was the first to write to the House Ethics Committee asking for an investigation into potential ethics violations raised about Representative Shuster, after published reports indicated that Shuster received free lodging and transportation from Ann Eppard after she left Shuster's staff to become a top lobbyist for the transportation industry. The House Ethics Committee announced last month that it had reopened an investigation into Representative Shuster that it had previously suspended because of a related criminal investigation initiated in Boston. The most recent allegations published in Roll Call articles this week cited recently released court documents from the Boston investigation. According to Roll Call, the court documents indicate that Representative Shuster and Eppard, then his chief of staff, received use of a Cape Cod, Mass. vacation home and expensive dinners from businessmen and lobbyists connected with a Boston transportation project known as the "Big Dig." "Common Cause strongly urges you to ensure that all of the matters raised in our 1996 letter and revealed by the Boston investigation are included in the Committee's investigation into potential violations of House ethics rules and standards by Representative Shuster," Common Cause President Ann McBride wrote in today's letter to Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Howard Berman (D-CA), the Chair and the ranking minority member of the House Ethics Committee. ### |
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