Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Ken Calvert (R-CA) is a seventh-term member of Congress, representing the 44th district of California. His ethics issues stem from his use of earmarks for personal gain and his connections to a lobbying firm under investigation. Rep. Calvert was included in CREW’s 2006 and 2007 reports on congressional corruption.

Earmarking for Personal Financial Benefit

In 2005, Rep. Calvert and his real estate partner, Woodrow Harpole Jr., paid $550,000 for a four acre piece of land at Martin Street and Seaton Avenue in Perris, just 4 miles south of the March Air Reserve Base in California. Less than a year after buying the land, without making any improvements to the parcel, they sold the property for $985,000, a 79% increase. During this period, Rep. Calvert pushed through an earmark to secure $8 million for an overhaul and expansion of a freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, as well as an additional $1.5 million for commercial development in the area around the airfield. In another deal, a group of investors bought property a few blocks from the site of a proposed interchange, for $975,000. Within six months after the earmark for the interchange was appropriated, the parcel of land sold for $1.45 million. Rep. Calvert’s firm received a commission on the sale. By using his position to earmark funds to increase the value of his own property, Rep. Calvert violated the prohibition against using his position as a member of Congress to advance his own financial interests and engaged in conduct that does not reflect creditably on the House. In May 2007, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct concluded that a $5.6 million earmark Rep. Calvert had requested for a transit center less than a mile from six properties he owns did not constitute a conflict-of-interest because Rep. Calvert was not the sole beneficiary of the project. The committee reached this conclusion despite the fact that Rep. Calvert=s 2006 financial disclosure form shows that the property purchased in 2004 for between $250,000 and $500,000 sold in 2006 for between $100,000 and $1 million.

Federal Investigation

In November 2007, it was reported that federal investigators are continuing their probe into Rep. Calvert’s earmarking activities and had pulled Rep. Calvert’s 2006 and 2007 personal financial disclosures.

Relationship with Lobbying Firm

Former lobbying firm of Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton and White is (“Copeland Lowery”) currently under investigation by a federal grand jury for its ties to Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). On May 23, 2006, as part of its investigation into Rep. Lewis’ ties to Mr. Lowery, the FBI obtained Rep. Calvert’s financial records at the same time that they pulled Rep. Lewis’s financial records. Rep. Calvert has helped pass through at least 13 earmarks sought by Copeland Lowery in 2005, adding up to over $91 million. An investigation should be launched into whether Rep. Calvert violated federal law or House rules by taking money for his campaigns in exchange for earmarks to help the clients of Copeland Lowery.

Land Deal

Rep. Calvert and his business partners were allowed to buy a parcel of public land from the Jurupa Community Services District without competition at a time when the area’s real estate market was booming. Although California law requires government agencies to first offer public land for sale to other public entities before making a private sale, Rep. Calvert purchased the land without an initial public offering. A grand jury in Riverside County, California examined the land sale and concluded that the sale was illegal because the district failed to first offer the land to other public agencies. A survey of Riverside County residents found that 90% of the community favored Rep. Calvert’s land being put to public use. In July of 2008, based on the overwhelming response, JARPD put the issue to the voters, asking them to decide on Measure P, which would allow the county to exercise eminent domain and seize the land.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT ON REP. KEN CALVERT (R-CA) >>