The Democratic National Campaign Committee named Speaker of the House John Boehner its “hypocrite of the week” for not forcing the resignation of Florida Republican Rep. David Rivera.
“With Speaker John Boehner continuing to ignore the expanding and unfolding criminal investigation into Representative David Rivera, it is now clear that Speaker John Boehner’s claim of ‘highest ethical standards’ for Members of Congress is only selectively applied,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“While Speaker John Boehner calls for high ethical standards in former Representative Chris Lee’s situation, he continues to remain silent on the growing criminal investigation into Representative David Rivera’s,” said Ferguson, “Having a double standard when it comes to ethics is what makes House Speaker John Boehner the hypocrite of the week.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) praised Boehner earlier this month as “a ruthless judge and jury within his party when it comes to the extracurricular activities of members of his conference.” In the same statement, CREW speculated that Boehner might rapidly force Rivera out of office.
Rivera is under criminal investigation in Florida for not disclosing $132,000 in loans from his mother’s consulting company. The consulting company raised money from a dog racetrack which Rivera assisted by advocating for the legalization of slot machines. He has also been tied to a past incident of domestic violence and admitted to falsely listing on financial disclosure forms from 2003 to 2009 that USAID was a source of income while a state legislator.
On Saturday, the Miami Herald reported that Rivera’s relationship with a financial consultant is the latest controversy to come into focus. Prior to announcing his 2010 candidacy for Congress, Rivera was running for the state Senate. He raised $1,000,000 for the state Senate campaign, of which he paid approximately $250,000 to the consultant, before switching to a run for Congress.
Boehner said in January, “As I understand the allegations against Mr. Rivera, they don’t involve any of his Congressional service… These are activities that took place before he was elected. And I think we are waiting to see how this plays out.”