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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is often described as the “conscience of the House.”
Well, they better get somebody new on the job because Jerry is letting us all down.
If reports are accurate, Nadler is breaking a major House rule by paying a senior staffer more than $80,000 for legal work.
Nothing to See
Nadler’s district director Robert Gottheim has been doing what appears to be legal work for Nadler’s campaign for years.
This did not become a problem until 2019.
That is when Gottheim crossed the threshold to be considered a senior-level staffer.
House rules forbid members of Congress from paying senior staffers for any legal representation.
Nader’s campaign responded, “He’s a campaign advisor, which doesn’t have any fiduciary responsibility.
“When the campaign files the quarterly reports the treasurer must choose a category to list his expenditures, so they chose ‘legal & strategic advising.’
“He’s a strategic advisor, not a lawyer.”
Caitlin Sutherland, the executive director of government watchdog Americans for Public Trust (APT), disagrees.
She stated, “Jerry Nadler brags about being the ‘conscience of the House,’ yet he can’t even ensure that his top staffer is in compliance with simple House ethics rules.
“It is absolutely against the law to be compensated for campaign work that involves fiduciary duties, and accordingly, we will look into filing a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics.”
The big problem for Nadler is that on the officers’ page of the website, Gottheim is touted as “counsel,” which most would agree is a word for legal representation.
Nadler appears guilty, but the question is will the FEC come after him or consider this an outlier and allow him off with a warning?
