Topline
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined just 12 other congress members who have been publicly admonished by congressional ethics committees since 2002 after the Senate Ethics Committee released a letter Thursday chastising him for raising campaign funds on federal property.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Capitol Hill. (Kent Nishimura /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Graham encouraged people to donate to congressional candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign five times in a November Fox News interview outside the Russell Senate Office Building, according to the letter, before reporting the interview to the Ethics Committee himself.
Congress members aren’t allowed to raise campaign funds in federal buildings or on federal property.
Graham was privately admonished in 2020 for soliciting funds for his campaign in an interview at the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Key Background
The Senate Ethics Committee issues a public admonishment if it finds a rule violation was inadvertent, technical or minimal after an official review. A public admonishment doesn’t affect a senator’s seating or punish them in any way. In the House of Representatives, a public admonishment warns a representative that their behavior violated Senate rules, but isn’t a formal sanction.
Senators Admonished By The Ethics Committee (Since 2002)
2002: Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.) for accepting gifts from businessman David Chang and intervening on behalf of Chang’s business interests in the Senate.
2008: Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Ohio) for implying police officers should give him special treatment after he was arrested in an airport bathroom for disorderly conduct and for using over $200,000 dollars in campaign funds to pay for his legal expenses.
2008: Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) for trying to determine how long a high-profile corruption case would last and creating the impression he was trying to influence the New Mexico district attorney.
2009: Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.) for implying he would raise more money for Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich (D-Ill.) if he was elected to then-President Barack Obama’s vacated senate seat and not fully disclosing his relationship with Blagojevich and his associates during the investigation.
2012: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) for meeting and discussing official business with a former senate senior staffer less than a year after the staffer had left his position.
2018: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) for accepting gifts from wealthy doctor Salomon Melgan and intervening on behalf of Melgan in the Senate, including in a case where Melgan was accused of overbilling Medicare by over $8.9 million dollars, a crime for which Melgan was later convicted.
2023: Graham for raising money for Walker while on government property.
Representatives Publicly Admonished By The Ethics Committee (Since 2002)
2004: Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for offering to support the campaign of another representative’s son in exchange for a favorable vote, hosting donors at a golf fundraiser that made it seem like donors could lobby DeLay before an energy bill and using his special access to the Federal Aviation Administration to track down political opponents.
2004: Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) for pressuring another representative for a favorable vote.
2004: Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) for making false claims that other representatives tried to bribe him in exchange for a favorable vote.
2010: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for knowingly using some money from private sponsorships to travel to a news conference.
2020: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-F.L.) for writing a tweet to Michael Cohen before his appearance before the House Oversight and Reform Committee that didn’t count as witness intimidation but reflected poorly on the House.
2022: Rep. Madison Cawthorne (R-N.C.) for promoting a cryptocurrency he had a stake in, failing to report how much cryptocurrency he had and getting special deals to purchase the coin.
Further Reading
Graham admonished by Senate Ethics (Politico)
Senate Ethics admonishes Graham for campaign solicitations (Associated Press)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywashburn/2023/03/24/lindsey-graham-sanctioned-by-senate-becomes-1-of-these-13-in-congress-admonished-in-past-20-years/