House Ethics launches investigation into Florida Democrat
MIAMI — The House Ethics Committee announced Wednesday that it’s investigating Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick over complaints that she may have violated campaign finance laws, failed to submit required disclosures and carried out improper hiring practices.
The campaign finance complaint is tied to Cherfilus-McCormick’s special election in 2022 and her reelection campaign that same year, per an official announcement about the investigation.
The progressive Florida lawmaker was elected to Congress when a seat became vacant after the 2021 death of Rep. Alcee Hastings, 84, who was first elected to the House in 1992. She’d previously unsuccessfully challenged Hastings in 2018 and 2020.
The Ethics Committee voted unanimously to investigate the allegations after getting a referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent agency that investigates misconduct complaints.
It hasn’t yet been determined whether Cherfilus-McCormick did anything wrong, and the precise details of the allegations may never become public.
“As the Ethics Committee said in its statement, the mere fact of establishing an investigative subcommittee does not itself indicate that any violation occurred,” said her spokesperson, Jonathan Levin. “Regardless, the Congresswoman takes these matters seriously and is working to resolve them.”
The other allegations cited in Wednesday's announcement include having a person who wasn’t hired by her office handle official work and failing to “properly disclose required information on statements.”
The congressmember also has used funds from her office to run ads — which is allowed but is rare and could blur ethics lines, per Inside Elections.
Anyone is allowed to levy a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics, and investigators generally make their findings public only if they determine wrongdoing occurred.
The Office of Congressional Ethics doesn’t have any disciplinary power — that job would instead fall to the lawmaker-led Ethics Committee, only after it's done conducting its own investigation and if it determines ethics laws have been flouted.