WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee recommended Monday that Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., be censured after finding that he engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female aides in his congressional office.
A censure registers the House’s deep disapproval of a lawmaker's conduct that does not meet the threshold for expulsion.
Edwards has denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, but the committee said his behavior would “lead a reasonable observer to interpret it as such.” It also described his actions as “beyond inappropriate.”
The panel highlighted numerous examples of actions it considered improper, including Edwards providing the young women with lavish and recurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, and sending notes regarding his affection.
Report found Edwards made aides ‘uncomfortable’
The Ethics panel found no evidence Edwards explicitly propositioned any person under his employ or engaged in any sexual activity with them. But it also said he failed to adhere to “the spirit of rules prohibiting sexual harassment of and unwanted advances to House staffers.”
"Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) but were put in an untenable position by virtue of his status as their boss and a Member of Congress," the Ethics Committee said in its 25-page report. “Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and well-being of two women on his staff.”
One aide worked for the congressman's office for about two-and-a-half years and the other for about three years. They no longer work there. The Ethics panel said they left due to conduct described in its report, although they provided other explanations to Edwards.
In a 15-page response to the report, Edwards' attorneys argued that the committee's findings “exonerate” the congressman, pointing to the conclusion that he did not engage in sexual activity or explicitly proposition any staff member.
His attorneys said the recommendation of censure was an “extraordinarily harsh and infrequent punishment” that is based on vague standards and adherence to the spirit of House rules, “not based on a direct violation of House rules addressing sexual misconduct.”
House members are prohibited from engaging in sexual harassment or making unwanted advances toward their subordinates.
The committee's report detailed numerous gifts that Edwards gave the two aides, calling the gifts “beyond norms of professional behavior.” The women received jewelry totaling more than $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, as well as vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.
There are House rules in place to protect staff
The Edwards investigation came at a time of heightened scrutiny of lawmakers’ behavior toward female staffers following the resignations of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales. Both were facing calls for their expulsion before they stepped down earlier this year.
In May, House leadership designated Reps. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., to lead a bipartisan effort to combat sexual misconduct in Congress. Their work is focused on making Capitol Hill a safer job environment for women.
The Ethics panel said Edwards cooperated with the investigation and acknowledged to them that at least some of the behavior at issue could be viewed as inappropriate. However, he has not acknowledged or taken responsibility for the harm he caused, the committee said.
In his interview with the committee, the panel said Edwards repeatedly asserted that he knows well what constitutes “sexual harassment,” and seemed to believe he had immunized himself from such a charge by avoiding inappropriate touching and sexual comments and occasionally telling the staffers that they were free to put up boundaries.
“Despite the absence of an explicit proposition, a reasonable person could interpret Representative Edwards’ intimate and effusive attentions, where he prioritized the personal over the professional, as thinly veiled advances," the committee wrote.
The House would have to approve Edwards' censure
The full House will have to vote before any censure would occur. Traditionally, a lawmaker who is censured must stand in the well of the House while the speaker or presiding officer reads the censure resolution as a form of public rebuke.
Lawmakers are back in their home districts for almost the rest of the month, so a vote on whether to censure Edwards won't occur for a few weeks at the earliest.
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