We've been following the investigations into Minnesota First District Congressman Jim Hagedorn since the Minnesota Reformer's reports began in August 15, 2020.
Daniel Newhauser reported that Congressman spent tax dollars on vendor owned by a member of his staff:
U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn likes to boast on mail he sends to his constituents that his postcards are, “Proudly printed in Minnesota!”
What the Minnesota Republican fails to mention, though, is he paid a Texas-based company owned by one of his staff members more than $100,000 of taxpayer money to do some of that printing — a business relationship Congressional ethics experts say is a clear violation of government ethics rules.
Hagedorn also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for printing to a separate, mysterious company that has existed for less than a year and seems to have gone to great lengths to conceal its ownership, according to publicly available Congressional spending records and business registration filings.
Both Hagedorn’s office and that company, Abernathy West LLC, did not respond to multiple requests asking who owns the business.
On Friday — just more than a week after the Minnesota Reformer asked the office about the transactions — Hagedorn fired his chief of staff, Peter Su, over concerns about “irregular spending,” according to the Daily Caller. Hagedorn’s spokesman and interim chief of staff did not respond to requests asking to confirm the report. Su did not respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment. . . .
Texas business registration documents show that Invocq Technologies was formed in 2011 and is owned by John Brevard Sample, of Houston. Sample is listed as the chief financial officer, chief technology officer and director of the company as well as its registered agent.
Sample used to work with Su in the Virginia state government, and since January 2019, Sample has drawn a $45,000 annual salary from Hagedorn’s office as a part-time employee handling digital media, according to public listings of congressional staff. . . .
In Thursday's Star Tribune, Hunter Woodall reports in New ethics report on mail controversy focuses on Hagedorn staffer:
A newly-released ethics report raises concerns about the role of John Sample, a part-time staffer for Minnesota GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, in questionable spending on taxpayer-funded constituent mail.
Hagedorn's hefty spending on constituent mailings during his first term became an issue ahead of his 2020 re-election victory. Hagedorn's congressional office spent large amounts of money on two companies linked to Sample and the brother of Hagedorn's chief of staff at the time. Hagedorn fired then-chief of staff Peter Su.
The Office of Congressional Ethics found "there is substantial reason to believe that John Sample was involved in and benefited from the use of official funds to procure services from companies owned or controlled by congressional staff members, including himself." Reached by phone this week, Sample declined to comment.
The ethics office concentrated on Hagedorn in a report made public in October. Leaders on the U.S. House Committee on Ethics, which is separate from the ethics office, said in a statement releasing the Hagedorn report that they had agreed a month earlier "to extend the Committee's review of the matter."
The recently-released report from the ethics office focused on Sample, a digital media staffer who continues to work part-time in Hagedorn's office, according to both the ethics report and Hagedorn's attorney.
Hagedorn and Sample did not cooperate with the ethics office about the mail situation, which recommended that both be subpoenaed by the House ethics committee.
The report describes Sample as an owner or part owner of Invocq Technologies LLC. Hagedorn's office paid Invocq around $114,000 over a span of time in 2019 and 2020 during Hagedorn's first term, according to the report.
"If John Sample participated in procuring services from staff-owned companies, then John Sample may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law," the report said.
Elliot Berke, Hagedorn's attorney, said in an e-mail that the Sample report "is a regurgitation by the OCE of a 15-month inquiry that Congressman Hagedorn requested with his self-report to the Ethics Committee."
"When notified of actions undertaken without his knowledge by his staff, Congressman Hagedorn took immediate action, such as terminating the employment of his chief of staff, and augmenting office guidelines to ensure any future contracts are issued through a thorough process upon which he is briefed," Berke said. "As can be reviewed in Congressman Hagedorn's self report, John Sample cooperated fully."
Sample was suspended for a time but later returned to work, according to the ethics report. . . .
Read the rest at the Star Tribune.
Related post:
Photo: Congressman Hagedorn, front left, red shirt) at a campaign event in Rochester.
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