Four members of the Congressional Black Caucus failed to file required trip disclosures for a conference organized by a one-time congressional aide and now-convicted felon. The conference came one week after several of their CBC colleagues were caught on videotape at a Caribbean conference whose lack of disclosure of corporate underwriters led to a House ethics committee rebuke and criminal charges.
The conclusion about the trip emerges after one of the four trip-goers amended a financial disclosure last week to report multiple trips that he has failed to disclose over the years. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) recently filed the amendment detailing his privately funded trips since 2007, including this one to Williams College which had not previously been disclosed.
The filing also highlights the sometimes-confusing disclosure system for sponsored travel. Members are required to get authorization from the ethics committee before a trip, and then submit a filing after the travel. These disclosures provide timely and detailed notification to the ethics committee and the public. They are also required to list a brief description of all such travel for an entire year on the annual financial disclosure forms.
The November 2008 Williams College trip was a notable disclosure failure: of the nine attendees, only four properly filed the trip disclosure forms as well as including it on their annual financial disclosure.
Johnson's financial disclosure shows the congressman properly filled out the pre-trip authorization forms for the Williams College trip, but public records do not indicate he ever filed the post-trip disclosure which would have made the records publicly available. He also did not list the trip on his 2009 financial disclosure until filing the amendment last week. Johnson had properly filled out trip disclosure forms for the other travel he disclosed with the newest filing.
The event at Williams College is also notable for who organized the travel. A 2009
repeat conference was cancelled at the last minute when the organizer, a former staffer to Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), pleaded guilty to fraud. The aide, Ernest B. Moore, claimed to work for Davis and officially represent the office, even after he was no longer on payroll. Disclosures relating to the 2008 trip show that Moore organized the travel for all of the attending members. Moore perpetraded frauds under many aliases, he was known as Bernard Glenn-Moore and Bernard Moore on Capitol Hill.
A video of the discussion posted by Williams College shows there were nine Black Caucus members present, but only five filled out the proper post-travel filings - the first of the two disclosure steps required. Of the remaining four members, two - Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) and Rep. Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) - listed the trip on their personal financial disclosures filed at the proper time. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) did not disclose the trip at all.
Underreporting of privately financed travel is a problem whose scope has not been defined but is obviously not rare. LegiStorm is aware of scores of other trips that have not been properly detailed.
Of the five members who filled out the proper trip disclosure forms for the Williams trip, four - Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) - also properly included it on their annual financial disclosure forms. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) filed the timely trip disclosure form but did not list the trip on her financial disclosure.
The Williams College trip came about a week after another controversial trip linked to the Congressional Black Caucus, a conference in St. Maarten sponsored by the New York Carib News. That Caribbean jaunt led to an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and the owner of Carib News eventually pleaded guilty to lying to investigators.
