NYT - Thompson ordered by Ethics to repay costs of Caribbean trip

The New York Times reports that the U.S. House Ethics Committee has ordered Representative Bennie Thompson and others to repay the costs of two trips to the Caribbean sponsored by corporate interests.

None of the other members of Congress on the trips were admonished because they did not know of the sponsorships, the committee said. But all were ordered to repay the cost of the trips, about $11,800 in total.

The others were Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee; Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan; Donald M. Payne of New Jersey; and Delegate Donna Christensen of the Virgin Islands. All five are Democrats.

Peter Flaherty from the National Legal and Policy Center exposed this trip as a corporately paid event and here is his take on the matter.

TPM reports the Ethics Committee

is referring to the Justice Department the matter of three employees of Carib News -- which sponsored the trips -- who allegedly submitted false information to the committee during pre-travel review for the trips in question. The panel also admonished its own former counsel, Dawn Kelly Mobley, for "improperly" communicating confidential information to two of the Carib News officials during the investigation.

Stay tuned.