WASHINGTON — First it was the owner of the red brick townhouse on 133 C Street SE that drew a group’s ire. Now it’s the Congressmen who actually stayed there.
A group of Ohio ministers and an ethics watchdog group here have separately asked federal investigators to examine whether four House members and four Senators received what amounts to illegal gifts for paying $950 a month, including housekeeping, to stay at the C Street house. But the tenants deny that they are getting breaks on the rent.
The town house, which is affiliated with the secretive religious group known as the Fellowship, include both Democrats and Republicans. But in the last year the residence became best known as the onetime home of Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, who lived there while he was involved in an affair with the wife of one of his senior aides.
The other current or former residents cited in the letters written to the Internal Revenue Service and the House and Senate ethics committees are Senators Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas; Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma; Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina; and Representatives Mike Doyle, Democrat of Pennsylvania; Heath Shuler, Democrat of North Carolina; Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan; and Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee.
Full story: Ethics Questions Raised for Congressmen Who Stayed at C Street House – NYTimes.com
