Ethics office: Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. improperly used campaign money; report is 'false,' he says

WASHINGTON – Congressional ethics investigators say they have found substantial reason to believe Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. improperly used thousands of campaign dollars on personal expenses for himself and his family.

The expenses totaled more than $100,000 and include trips for Duncan’s family and friends to the upscale Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, the 2017 presidential inauguration in Washington and family travel to New York City for a National Republican Congressional Committee event, according to a report by the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Ethics.

Other expenses outlined in the 57-page report include thousands of dollars for membership dues and private parties, including baby showers and bridal dinners, at the Club LeConte in Knoxville and membership dues at the Knoxville Quarterback Club.

'Substantial reason' to think House ethics rules, federal law may have been violated

Congressional investigators analyzed thousands of pages of Duncan's credit card, travel and other purchase records since 2008 and concluded there is "substantial reason" to believe that he may have violated House ethics rules, standards of conduct and federal law, the report said.

The House Ethics Committee released the report Wednesday and said it is continuing to review the allegations against Duncan, a Knoxville Republican and the longest-serving Tennessean in Congress.

More:5 things to know about a congressman named Duncan

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The committee first acknowledged in February that it was reviewing the allegations, which were referred to the panel in December in a 5-1 vote by the board that oversees the Office of Congressional Ethics.

The committee stressed that the disclosure of such a review does not necessarily indicate that a violation has occurred.

The committee did not indicate Wednesday how long it expected its review to take.

Duncan: Creating 'a scandal where there was none'

In a statement following the release of the report, Duncan insisted he has done nothing wrong and called the report “so false and misleading that it is almost ludicrous.”

The investigator for the Office of Congressional Ethics “made a ridiculous accusation that I ‘may’ have converted a very large amount of money to my personal use when practically all of it was spent buying meals for campaign workers, supporters, contributors, and constituents, many of whom I did not even know,” Duncan said.

“Over my 30 years in Congress, my campaign has paid for thousands of meals,” he said. “My wife and I have paid out of our own pockets for personal groceries and family meals. But many thousands have come to our barbecues. And I have hosted thousands of people from my district at luncheons, dinners, receptions, and political events of all types.

“However, because this OCE staffer was so determined to make something bad out of something good, and to create a scandal where there was none, she decided that because some of my family and friends were at many of these events, they somehow became personal rather than political.”

Duncan, who announced last summer that he would not seek re-election, charged that the ethics complaint was politically motivated “by someone who was afraid I was going to run for re-election” and “was really all about politics and truthfully not about ethics at all.”

“I know that some people believe everyone in politics is bad,” he said. “But I can assure everyone that every penny spent by my campaign was done to help me politically, and that is what campaign funds are for. No taxpayer funds were involved in any way.”

In its report, the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog that reviews allegations of misconduct against House members and their staffs, outlined numerous instances in which it said Duncan may have improperly used campaign expenses:

• In December 2014,, Duncan’s campaign committee spent $15,091 on a three-night trip to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia, the report said. The congressman, his family and campaign supporters who were also personal friends made the trip. Duncan told ethics investigators that the trip was his idea and that he thought it “would be a really nice way to say thank you for people that had done so much in my campaign.” But the ethics office concluded that the trip was primarily recreational and that the campaign committee’s payments for lodging and other amenities lacked a bona fide political or campaign purpose.
• In January 2017, Duncan’s campaign committee paid $6,551 in hotel, mileage and food expenses for three of Duncan’s adult children, a relative and a campaign contributor to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
• From 2009 to 2011, Duncan regularly attended a National Republican Congressional Committee event held every December in New York and paid $2,127 for his wife, Lynn, and their two adult sons, his adult daughter, his daughter-in-law and at least one grandchild to attend the event. While the congressman and his wife’s attendance at the event likely had a clear campaign purpose, the expenses for his other family members may not have been legitimate campaign expenses, the report said.
• Since September 2008, Duncan’s campaign committee has spent $11,917 on membership dues at the Club LeConte and another $11,997 on private parties at the club, including baby showers, wedding showers and other events. Duncan told investigators that his wife organized those events for women “in part (for) appreciation for people who had helped me in campaigns and in part to help me get votes from women.”
• Between 2008 and 2012, Duncan’s campaign committee spent $1,400 on dues or membership expenses at the Knoxville Quarterback Club, a nonprofit organization comprised of college football fans.
• Between 2009 and 2013, Duncan's campaign committee routinely purchased season tickets to sporting events and concerts totaling $27,585. Duncan's office told investigators the tickets were used to thank campaign donors and workers, but the purchases may have violated the prohibition against using campaign funds for admission to a sporting event or concert that is not part of a specific campaign activity, the report said.
• In addition, investigators said that Duncan’s son may have misused his campaign-funded credit card account to pay for personal meals and phone expenses. Duncan’s campaign spent $13,525 on a cell phone for his son, who in turn also used the phone in his work as a Realtor as well as for his work on behalf of the campaign, the report said.

Duncan paid $321,000 to his son

The report did not name the son in question. But Duncan came under fire last July amid revelations that he paid John Duncan III some $300,000 for campaign work in the years after the younger man pleaded guilty to misconduct while in public office.

The congressman told the News Sentinel that he paid John Duncan III to head his political operations and perform work ranging from putting up yard signs to fundraising.

The report also alleges that Duncan’s campaign committee may have accepted impermissible contributions from individuals employed by his congressional office. Investigations uncovered at least five occasions when Duncan’s congressional staffers made small purchases for which they were later reimbursed by the campaign. Those reimbursements totaled $590.

More:House Ethics Committee confirms review of Rep. John Duncan Jr.

Duncan defends his expenses

In his statement, Duncan defended all of his expenses.

“While I have run TV, radio, and newspaper ads over the years, I decided a long time ago that it was nicer and more helpful to me politically to take people to eat and spend time with them at meals or host people at breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, or political meetings of all types,” he said.

After the 2014 campaign, Duncan said, he took five couples and some of his family who had had helped with his campaign for a weekend trip to the Greenbrier.  “The hotel had a special winter rate, and I thought this would be a cheaper and nicer way to say thank you for all that each of them, including my family, had done in the campaign,” he said.

As for the 2017 presidential inaugural, Duncan said he asked his family to help him host the hundreds of constituents who were traveling to Washington for the events surrounding Trump’s swearing-in. “We did even this on the cheap,” he said. “My family stayed two nights in one of the cheapest motels in the Washington area, and I made all of them drive because the plane fares were too expensive.”

Duncan said about once a year he hosted various groups at the Club LeConte, including lunches for graduating students, a reception in honor of a vice president at Lincoln Memorial University and a 90th birthday party for a longtime supporter and her friends.

“The receptions hosted by (my) wife were accurately and honestly labeled as showers, but they just as accurately and honestly could have been reported on our FEC reports as women’s political receptions because they were,” Duncan said.

“These were for the wives and daughters of people who had worked in and/or contributed to my campaigns. Some of these young women had been interns for me. … But the main reason I wanted this done was because Republicans were getting a lower percentage of the women’s vote and I thought this would help me politically. The women who were invited were up to the honorees, and many were people neither my wife nor I knew beforehand.”

Duncan said his wife and children have worked in all of his campaigns with no pay expect for an occasional meal at a political meeting or reception. But with the rise of the tea party and opposition to anyone who had been in office for a long time, he said he knew he would be in for a tough campaign in 2014.

So in 2013, he said, he hired John Duncan III to work fulltime managing his campaign, as other members of Congress have done.

“I paid John less than half of what many federal level campaign managers have received, and he has done far more than almost any of them,” Duncan said. “He has done the big things like polling, making speeches, choosing advertising, answering campaign calls, representing me at all types of functions, but also work that some big wheeler would not do like pounding in yard sings, delivering campaign materials, working in our water booths, managing the coliseum barbecue, helping out at our golf tournaments, and even going for me to funerals.”

Most of his staff members have never worked in any of his campaigns, Duncan said, but in reviewing his campaign spending he discovered that four staffers made purchases for which they were reimbursed.

The expenses included chicken nuggets for an election night party at a Knoxville hotel, a gift for the House speaker when he attended a Knoxville reception thrown for Duncan and face-painting for children at one of his barbecues, he said.

“I did not ask my staffers to make these purchases and they did so voluntarily,” Duncan said. “Since they were quickly reimbursed, I saw nothing wrong about it. However, I have now been told technically, the money should have been given to them in advance, so I have reimbursed my campaign for these expenditures.”

Relying on family and a few close friends to work on his campaigns, rather than Washington or campaign professionals, enabled him to run some of the cheapest, least expensive congressional campaigns in this country, Duncan said.