Sam Johnson has been in office for seven terms as a U.S. Congressman, representing the Dallas, TX area. However, it appears that he may not have been the upstanding politico he has supposedly been touted as. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint with the House Ethics Comittee, alleging that Johnson misused the IRS for partisan political purposes (p..p..p..).

I’ll give you a moment to wipe the saliva off of your monitor after reading that last sentence…

This nice little complaint is coming on the heels of the revelation that Johnson was the source of the initial request that the IRS investigate Texans for Political Justice. Unfortunately, outside groups cannot file ethics complaints against sitting congressmen (nor can they be sued, or otherwise given the funk. It’s always nice to realize your local congressman may be above the law if the rest of the legislature chooses to overlook something (assuming something exists)).

CREW states that it files its complaint because:

under the long-standing ethics “truce” in the House, Members have been directed by their leaders not to file ethics complaints against other Members.

…Wait a minute, wouldn’t that be a bit of an ethical violation, anyway? Think about it. If you know some it doing something unethical, and you refuse to report it, doesn’t that make you just as unethical as the first? God I love politics and their synapse-misfiring philosphies.

Mi Amigo over at the Capitol Annex goes on to report the facts better (or at least less snarky) than I ever could:

CREW’s complaint alleges that Rep. Johnson’s actions violated 31 U.S.C. Section 1301(a), which provides that official funds are to be used only for purposes for which they are appropriated; the Code of Ethics in Government Service, which requires all government employees to uphold the laws of the United States and which prohibits government employees from providing special favors to anyone; and House Rule 23, which requires Members to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.

Wait a minute… “…which requires Members to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects creditably on the House.”

Do I really need to voice the joke, or are we all giggling right along?

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW, states:

Rep. Johnson abused the public trust by using the power of his office to harass an organization which had taken a position with which he disagreed. Such actions are specifically prohibited by federal law and ethics rules and the House ethics committee should immediately commence an investigation into Rep. Johnson’s disgraceful conduct.

…I’ve never been too certain about CREW. I was even less certain after I saw their ethics complaint against Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA). It appears that Senator Santorum got a loan from a bank that states, “banking services are available only to investment advisory clients whose portfolios we manage, oversee or administer.” The problem with this? The Senator was not a client of the bank, at the time of his loan. According to Senate Gift Rule, Loans are Gifts - HOWEVER, Senators can accept loans on “terms availible to the general public.” Since Santorum was not a member of the lending bank, and therefore was technically inelligible for a loan from that bank - by the banks own policies - CREW is alleging that he comitted an ethics violation. Personally, I think they’re reaching, there.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see what comes of this bee in the House’s bonnet.