Ethics report stokes battle for Rubio’s seat

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) said Wednesday that his Senate primary opponent, Rep. Alan Grayson, isn’t qualified to hold public office after an independent ethics report alleged violations of House rules and federal law.

Yet Murphy stopped short of calling on Grayson to resign or drop out of the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio (R).

“I believe that, quite frankly, he’s disqualified himself as a public servant,” Murphy told reporters on a conference call organized by his campaign. “Ultimately, this speaks to his ethics, this speaks to his character, and it appears he’s lacking both of those.”

{mosads}But when asked whether he believes Grayson should relinquish his current duties, Murphy replied, “That’s up to him, and that’s up to the voters.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) earlier this year called on Grayson to suspend his campaign following reports that he continued to manage a hedge fund while serving as a member of Congress. 

A 74-page report by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) released Tuesday said investigators found “substantive reason to believe” Grayson violated multiple ethics rules through his management of the fund, as well as through a fee arrangement with his former law firm, by omitting information on his annual financial disclosure forms, and by using official resources for campaign purposes.

The OCE urged the House Ethics Committee to conduct a formal investigation. The panel said Tuesday that it will extend its review of the matter but hasn’t taken the step of establishing an investigative subcommittee.

Establishment Democrats have been rallying around Murphy, who they believe would be a stronger general election candidate in the race to fill Rubio’s seat. The freshman senator decided not to run for reelection to focus on his now-defunct presidential bid. 

Progressive groups, meanwhile, are backing Grayson, a liberal firebrand who has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president. 

Polls show that Murphy and Grayson are set for a tight primary election on Aug. 30. 

Grayson has denied any wrongdoing and accused Murphy of fueling the allegations to hurt his Senate bid. In a statement after the OCE report’s release on Tuesday, Grayson called the investigation a “Murphy-instigated fishing expedition.”

But Murphy denied Wednesday that his campaign colluded with ethics investigators to leak details of the OCE’s probe.

“There is no conspiracy here against Alan Grayson. This is a very clear example of being caught red-handed,” Murphy said.

In a lengthy rebuttal to the OCE report, Grayson’s legal counsel accused the office of deliberately leaking information to Murphy’s staff and to the media.

“This outrageous misconduct by the OCE staff demonstrates that the OCE report now before the Committee is neither impartial nor unbiased,” Brett Kappel wrote.

According to Kappel, news of Grayson appearing before the OCE in October leaked within hours. Only Grayson, his counsel and OCE staffers would have known the interview date, length and content, he posited, but Politico published a story days later with those details.

“It would have been impossible for POLITICO to report that level of detail without a source from within the OCE, presumably with [Murphy’s chief of staff] acting as a conduit,” Kappel wrote.

Kappel also claims that the identity of a hedge fund investor, which Grayson kept secret until brought before the OCE, was disclosed to a major Democratic donor.

Grayson pointed the finger for the leak at Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who leads Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which has endorsed Murphy. Grayson’s counsel further noted that Murphy’s former deputy chief of staff recently joined the DSCC.

But Murphy maintained that his staff has not been involved with the OCE and suggested Grayson is trying to deflect attention from the nature of the allegations.

“Sometimes the truth hurts. He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar here,” Murphy said.