January 26, 2011 - OCE Referral Regarding Rep. Price

OCE Referral Regarding Rep. Price (PDF 1MB)

On September 1, 2010, the OCE transmitted a referral to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct of the United States House of Representatives regarding Representative Thomas Price.

Nature of Review

H.R. 4173, formally known as the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, was reported out of the Committee on Financial Services on the afternoon of December 2, 2009. H.R. 4173 (the “Financial Reform Bill”) was passed by the House on December 11, 2009. On December 10, 2009, Representative Price held a fundraiser for his campaign committee called the “Financial Services Industry Luncheon” that appeared to solicit entities or individuals registered to lobby on the Financial Reform Bill. Further, Representative Price’s professional fundraiser offered one-on-one meetings between Representative Price and entities registered to lobby on the Financial Reform Bill in December 2009.

If Representative Price solicited or accepted contributions in a manner which gave the appearance that special treatment or access was being provided to donors or the appearance that the contributions were linked to an official act, then he may have violated House Rules and Standards of Conduct.

OCE Recommendation

The Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics recommends that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct further review the above allegations because there is substantial reason to believe that Representative Price solicited or accepted contributions at the fundraiser he held on December 10, 2009, in a manner which gave the appearance that special treatment or access was provided to donors or that contributions were linked to an official act.

Committee Conclusion

On January 26, 2011, the Committee determined not to take further action regarding this matter and adopted the Committee staff recommendation to dismiss the matter and consider it closed.