California lawmaker’s chief of staff resigns after indictment

Freshman Rep. Mimi Walters’s (R-Calif.) chief of staff has resigned following an indictment from the Justice Department related to his tenure as a top aide to ex-Rep. Paul Broun.

Walters’s office said David Bowser offered his resignation after the Justice Department charged him Wednesday with eight counts for misusing congressional funds for campaign purposes and obstructing an ethics investigation.

“David Bowser tendered his resignation on April 6, 2016. The charges against him involve incidents alleged to have occurred in the office of former Georgia Congressman Paul Broun in 2012-2014, before Rep. Walters became a member of Congress,” Walters’s office said in a statement.

{mosads}Bowser served as chief of staff to Broun, who departed the House after a failed 2014 Senate bid and is seeking a comeback this cycle. The conservative firebrand has mounted a primary challenge against Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), in a contest slated for May 24.

The indictment alleges that Bowser hired communications consultant Brett O’Donnell to assist Broun’s 2012 reelection and 2014 Senate campaign. At Bowser’s direction, the indictment says, Broun’s congressional office paid O’Donnell about $44,000.

Congressional offices are prohibited from using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes. 

After the Office of Congressional Ethics began investigating the matter in 2014, the indictment alleges that Bowser tried to obstruct the investigation by stonewalling production of relevant documents and dissuading other witnesses from cooperating.

Bowser and O’Donnell publicly stated that the consultant was only paid for assisting Broun with congressional communications such as floor speeches and provided campaign services on a volunteer basis.

O’Donnell pleaded guilty last year to lying to investigators.