WASHINGTON – Congressional ethics investigators say they have found substantial reason to believe that Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. improperly used thousands of campaign dollars on personal expenses for himself and his family.
The expenses include trips for Duncan’s family and friends to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, the 2017 presidential inauguration in Washington and family travel to New York City for a National Republican Congressional Committee event, according to a report by the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics.
Other expenses outlined in the 57-page report include thousands of dollars for membership dues and private parties, including baby showers and bridal dinners, at the Club LeConte in Knoxville and membership dues at the Knoxville Quarterback Club.
'Substantial reason' to think House ethics rules, federal law may have been violated
Congressional investigators analyzed thousands of pages of Duncan's credit card, travel and other purchase records since 2008 and concluded there is "substantial reason" to believe that he may have violated House ethics rules, standards of conduct and federal law, the report said.
The report was released Wednesday by the House Ethics Committee, which said it is continuing its review of the allegations. The committee stressed that the disclosure of such a review does not necessarily indicate a violation has occurred.
The panel did not indicate how long it expected the review to take.
Duncan called the report detailing the allegations “so false and misleading that it is almost ludicrous.”
The ethics investigator “made a ridiculous accusation that I ‘may’ have converted a very large amount of money to my personal use when practically all of it was spent buying meals for campaign workers, supporters, contributors, and constituents, many of whom I did not even know,” Duncan said in a statement.
“Over my 30 years in Congress, my campaign has paid for thousands of meals,” Duncan said. “My wife and I have paid out of our own pockets for personal groceries and family meals. But many thousands have come to our barbecues. And I have hosted thousands of people from my District at luncheons, dinners, receptions, and political events of all types.
Duncan: Creating 'a scandal where there was none'
“However, because this OCE staffer was so determined to make something bad out of something good, and to create a scandal where there was none, she decided that because some of my family and friends were at many of these events, they somehow became personal rather than political.”
“I know that some people believe everyone in politics is bad,” Duncan said. “But I can assure everyone that every penny spent by my campaign was done to help me politically, and that is what campaign funds are for. No taxpayer funds were involved in any way.”
The ethics committee acknowledged for the first time in February that it was reviewing a complaint against Duncan. The panel announced then that it had decided to extend its review, which it said was prompted by a referral in January from the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Duncan, who announced last summer that he would not seek re-election, suggested in a statement following the committee’s announcement in February that the complaint is political and may have been brought by someone who thought he was going to run for another term.
A staffer for the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog that reviews allegations of misconduct against House members and their staffs, went over his campaign expenditures for the past 10 years, Duncan said.
Every expenditure ever made from his campaign funds was done to help him politically and to assist in his campaigns, he said, and every expense was reported to the Federal Election Commission. No taxpayer dollars were ever used on his campaigns, he said.
Duncan paid $321,000 to his son
Duncan came under fire in early July amid revelations that he paid his son $300,000 for campaign work in the years after the younger man pleaded guilty to misconduct in office.
The congressman told the Knoxville News Sentinel that he paid John Duncan III to head his political operations and perform work ranging from putting up yard signs to fundraising.
Since that original story was published, Duncan continued to pay his son twice a month. His final payment, received Dec. 15, brought the total amount paid to $321,250.
In September, two months after he announced he would not run for another term, Duncan was still paying his son, although not as much. That month, the younger Duncan's payments decreased from $3,500 twice a month to $1,750 twice a month.
The congressman, 70, is a lawyer who served as a state trial judge before entering Congress. He was first elected to Congress in a 1988 special election to replace his father, John Duncan Sr., who had cancer and died in June of that year. He represents a district in the Knoxville area that is considered a safe Republican seat.