- Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina faces a congressional ethics complaint.
- The complaint alleges he violated ethics rules by providing gifts and money loans a staffer.
- But internal congressional investigations are notoriously slow and opaque.
Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina is facing a flurry of alleged ethics violations related to his personal finances and increasingly erratic behavior.
A member of Cawthorn’s own party — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina — has even called on congressional investigators to target the freshman congressman.
But don’t count on Congress to act swiftly, if it acts at all.
That’s because Congress’ internal ethics investigations process is notoriously slow and opaque, often lasting many months. And if a member of Congress resigns or loses re-election in the midst of a congressional investigation — both plausible outcomes for Cawthorn — the House Committee on Ethics will cease any effort.
Congress does little to hold members of Congress and congressional staffers accountable when they conduct investigations, says Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager of Project On Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group.
“The track record of the ethics committees in both chambers is really being largely impotent and largely useless when it comes to these things,” he said.
He added that “because everyone knows that the ethics committees are not really going to do anything” then it can incentivize members of Congress and congressional staffs to keep violating congressional ethics rules.
If a member of Congress are found to have violated house ethics rules, then there can be a number of penalties ranging from a letter of reprimand, all the way up to censure, says Kedric Payne, a former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Censure is a formal statement of disapproval carried out on the House floor. The House Speaker usually reads a resolution condemning a lawmaker’s actions and then the lawmaker has to stand and listen to it.
In extreme cases, the US Constitution grants Congress the right to expel a sitting lawmaker — something that’s only happened five times, according to House records. The most recent expulsion came in 2002, when Congress kicked Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, out of the US House.
Payne, now with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said the outcomes of a formal congressional investigation could also lead to congressional leadership applying pressure to push out the members of Congress or forcing them to resign.
But Congress may also dismiss an investigation without any adverse action against one of its own.
On Friday, Cawthorn’s office responded to Insider’s questions about his ethics situation with a tweet.
“I believe in some pretty aggressive government reforms. I want to change the GOP for the better, and I believe in America First,” he wrote. “I can understand the establishment attacking those beliefs, but just digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic.”
Read More: Why Madison Cawthorn’s Congressional Ethics Investigation Will Be Slow and Potentially Fruitless