House Ethics Committee extends Rep. Gutierrez review

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The House Ethics Committee has extended its review of Representative Luis Gutierrez.

The committee announced last month that it was looking into Gutierrez's activities after the independent office of congressional ethics pushed for it.

Gutierrez allegedly used his office budget to pay a contractor nearly half a million dollars over ten years.

That contractor was Doug Scofield, former chief of staff and lobbyist who co-authored the Gutierrez autobiography titled "Still Dreaming." Scofield served as Guttierez's chief of staff until 2022 to join Rod Blagojevich's campaign for Illinois governor. He then worked briefly as an aide to Blagojevich before leaving in 2013 to set up his own Chicago-based lobbying firm.

Over the next 10 years Gutierrez used part of his congressional office budget to pay Scofield's company nearly $600,000. It is against House rules for congressmen to pay consultants. Gutierrez maintains Scofield was a contractor who provided training and "non-legislative" services, and that the payments were all approved by the House Administration Committee.

Gutierrez is currently seeking his 12th term in Congress.

In a statement, Scofield wrote:

"Absurdly, the report seems to fault me for performing too much official work and perhaps going beyond the undefined line that is supposed to govern the scope of work of 'contractors.'"

Gutierrez's director of communications responded to Monday's developments with the following statement:

"(Monday)'s announcement by the Committee reveals that it will not convene a special ethics panel. As the Committee reviews this matter, Congressman Gutirrez and his office will continue to cooperate fully. As the Committee points out, its review does not indicate that any violation has occurred or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee. "After its exhaustive review, the OCE made a single recommendation that the House Committee on Ethics assess whether the approved contract was permissible under ambiguous House rules. "As part of its review, the OCE examined questions relating to lobbying, campaign activities and the Congressman's memoir. The OCE ultimately found no conduct on those issues that necessitated additional review by the House Committee on Ethics. "The report reflects that Congressman Gutirrez's office submitted the entire contract for review by both the Committee on House Administration and the finance office of the House of Representatives before Mr. Scofield performed any work. The report also establishes that the Congressman's office resubmitted the contract to the House at the beginning of each new Congress and that the contractual payments were disclosed in public, quarterly reports of disbursements for the House. "The Congressman and his office cooperated fully with the inquiry of the OCE. The OCE requested ten years of records, files, notes and communications (including e-mails) between Doug Scofield and Congressman Gutirrez and the Congressman's staff. The Congressman and ten current or former staff members also voluntarily spoke with the OCE."