Ninth District U.S. Representative Bill Shuster has been cleared by a congressional ethics committee regarding a spying incident which heated up a primary race between Shuster and challenger Michael DelGrosso of Tipton.
A former part-time Shuster employee Joshua Juda alleged last November he had been required to perform political work for the Congressman while on official time for Shuster’s congressional office.
Shuster asked for the review after Juda went public with his allegations which led to extensive media coverage regarding Juda’s activities.
Juda had claimed he was paid $1,200 for his campaign activities which allegedly included spying on DelGrosso at his home in Tipton. DelGrosso was Shuster’s Republican challenger in this year Ninth District Congressional race. The area native eventually lost to Shuster in a close race for the House seat.
Shuster denied the claims, indicating he never asked Juda to spy, while asserting Juda’s actions weren’t done on official time.
The ethics committee findings supported Shuster who maintained the extra money paid to Juda in September of last year was for congressional work performed by Juda at constituent service booths at county fairs last summer. The spying incidents were also alleged to have occurred in September of last year, the same month Juda was paid the bonus.
In summary, the ethics committee concluded the campaign-related activities were not done on official time and were not a violation of a prohibition against congressional staff doing campaign work while on official time. The findings also showed the $1,200 bonus was for congressional work.
The findings of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct chastised Shuster by advising him that “much of the public controversy could have been avoided” had he followed long standing committee guidelines which require staff members who do campaign work to maintain detailed time records.
It was communicated to Shuster by the ethics committee that Juda “appeared to meet his Congressional work requirement (25 hours per week) and hence his campaign-related activities were not performed on official time.
In a press release issued by Shuster’s office yesterday, he said, “I regret that there was any perception of impropriety in my office. That is why I asked for this review by the Ethics Committee.
“Had a few simple measures been in place, this incident may have been avoided,” stated Shuster.
“I have certainly learned a valuable lesson and am implementing a number of office practices which will provide safeguards against any claim that politics is being practiced within my congressional office in the future,” said Shuster.
“I’m ecstatic that the committee came out with the findings that it did,” Shuster told The Daily Herald. “There were no violations of any House rules-I knew that from the beginning. I called for this review of the situation and our policies in the office to make certain that we improved our policies and procedures and to make sure I have been cleared and they were clear that there had been no violation.”
In an effort to avoid future problems, Shuster’s congressional office has already implemented and will adopt several new office practices, according to the press release from his office.
Among the new practices each employee will receive a copy of an office manual and be required to sign an affirmation they have read and understood it. Shuster’s chief of staff will be responsible for reviewing and updating the manual on an annual basis and brief staff on all updates.
Also, part-time employees will be required to record their office hours on a calendar that will be submitted to the district director and held on file. Also any office employee who volunteers to do campaign work or who splits time between campaign and office work will be required to maintain a calendar documenting their official time.
Attempts by The Daily Herald to reach Michael DelGrosso or Joshua Juda were unsuccessful by press time.
