WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee said Monday it is investigating allegations that two Republican congressmen from Texas violated ethics rules by using campaign funds to pay membership dues at private social clubs.
The bipartisan panel released findings that Rep. Ronny Jackson’s campaign committee paid more than $6,800 in membership dues to the Amarillo Club, an upscale dining club and gym in downtown Amarillo. The Ethics Committee also released a report on a separate investigation that found Rep. Wesley Hunt’s campaign committee paid more than $5,400 in membership dues to the Oak Room, a private dining club in Houston.
The Ethics Commission announced that it would investigate the payments more closely. However, this does not mean that violations of ethics rules have been proven.
A spokeswoman for Jackson said the investigation was based on a previous complaint from two years ago. No modern information had emerged and Jackson’s office had followed the committee’s instructions.
The Office of Congressional Ethics, which conducted the investigation, said none of the lawmakers agreed to cooperate with the investigation. The independent, nonpartisan office is tasked with investigating allegations against lawmakers and other House staffers and referring any problems it finds to the House Ethics Committee, which is made up of lawmakers.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the left at OCE (Office of Congressional Ethics) has decided to waste taxpayer money to prosecute government employees for absolutely nothing,” Jackson’s office said in a statement.
Hunt’s lawyers said in a response to the Ethics Committee that the congressman did not operate the membership for personal purposes but to meet with campaign donors and advisers. Hunt believed that membership in the Post Oak Club, which provides access to a meeting room, was “a more judicious use of campaign funds” than a campaign office, his lawyers said.
This is not Jackson’s first time under scrutiny. Before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2020, he was one of the White House’s chief physicians under former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and became known for his comments about Trump’s health.
Trump had nominated him to be secretary of veterans affairs but withdrew his nomination amid allegations of professional misconduct. An internal Defense Department investigation later concluded that Jackson had made “sexual and derogatory” remarks about a female subordinate, violated a policy on alcohol consumption on a presidential trip and taken prescription sleeping pills that raised concerns among his colleagues about his ability to provide adequate medical care.
Jackson has denied these allegations and called them politically motivated.
In the matter before the Ethics Committee, Jackson’s campaign had been paying monthly dues of about $175 to the Amarillo Club since 2021. Starting in April of last year, the campaign reported the monthly payments as “membership for exclusive campaign purposes,” the committee report said.
The club, which also has a gym and gives its members access to partner clubs across the country, states on its website that its “members have built lasting bonds and a network of connections.”
The House ethics manual instructs members not to operate campaign funds for personal purposes, including to improve their lifestyles or meet personal obligations, but it gives them broad discretion in determining what counts as a campaign or political expenditure.
