San Jose Inside - Khanna, Elected Officials Blast Mike Honda in Ethics Complaint

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By Josh Koehn

Ro Khanna and two locally elected officials held a press conference Friday calling on the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate the pay-to-play coordination between Rep. Mike Honda's staff and his re-election campaign.

The complaint, filed by Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves and Cupertino Councilmember Rod Sinks, cites a report San Jose Inside published this week detailing a range of House rules flouted by Honda's office. Amongst the violations of House rules, internal emails made public in SJI's report show that Honda's chief of staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, coordinated with Honda's then-campaign manager, Lamar Heystek, on an invitation list for a State Department Roundtable--an official event--while discussing the collection of financial support for Honda's bid to remain in office.

Van Der Heide, in an email sent Feb. 9, 2013, discussed with Heystek the collection of money and endorsements for MH (Mike Honda's initials):

"Great lists--how are we doing outreach to them for $?" she wrote. "Can we at least collect emails and send newsletters or something if we can't do straight asks electronically now? Also do you have the list of the South Asians now endorsing/supporting MH? I want to make sure we are including all of them. Invites going out first thing Monday morning."

A provision in the House Ethics Manual states, "[A] solicitation for campaign or political contributions may not be linked with an official action taken or to be taken by a House Member or employee, and a Member may not accept any contribution that is linked with an action that the Member has taken or is being asked to take."

Khanna, who is challenging Honda to represent District 17, which includes parts of the South Bay that span from Cupertino to Fremont, had not yet announced his candidacy during the time these emails were sent.

"The internal emails released this week are the latest sign that Congressman Honda has become part of the problem in Washington," Khanna said in a statement. "He's more focused on using his office to raise money and secure his re-election than in getting things done for the people of his district. Voters in the 17th district deserve an immediate investigation so they know whether Congressman Honda has broken ethics rules before casting their ballots."

Honda's office put out a statement Wednesday claiming that no House rules were violated. But in that same email, the office admits it "should have taken more care to prevent the appearance of coordination."

So if the office did not break any laws, what exactly should Honda's staffers have done differently?

"We're going to pretty much stay with what's in the statement there," Ken Scudder, Honda's communications director, told SJI on Thursday.

One expert on political ethics, however, sees no gray area in the emails.

In an article published Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci quoted Jessica Levinson, a law professor who teaches political ethics at Loyola University of Los Angeles, as saying: "As far as I can see, those are clear violations and worth talking about."

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