FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2024
CONTACT:
Coby Eiss
[email protected]
WILL ROLLINS CALLS ON HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE CALVERT’S ALLEGED EARMARK ABUSE AND STRENGTHEN DISCLOSURE RULES
CORONA, C.A. — Yesterday, as reported by both the LA Times and the Press-Enterprise, watchdog group End Citizens United filed a formal ethics complaint against Congressman Ken Calvert over failing to disclose properties that he owns across Riverside County. Calvert’s properties are near transportation projects funded with taxpayer dollars through earmarks he obtained in Congress.
The LA Times’ new reporting found that Calvert failed to disclose the 2016 purchase of an automotive repair center in Corona – about one mile from a bridge that received $2 million in earmarked taxpayer funds through Calvert’s office. The ethics complaint also alleges that Calvert improperly failed to report the purchase of two other properties, one in Corona and one in Palm Springs. In response to inquiries from the press, Calvert filed six years’ worth of amended financial disclosures last week.
Will Rollins, the Democratic nominee for Congress in California’s 41st District, issued the following statement in response to the new reports:
“Unfortunately, too many families across our district are unsurprised to see the need for a formal investigation into Ken Calvert. While Inland Empire residents are facing rising housing costs, Ken Calvert spent years lining his own pockets using taxpayer dollars to secure earmarks near his own properties, inflating their value on California’s dime. Riverside County families deserve better leadership, and I hope the House Ethics Committee launches a formal investigation into Calvert’s self-dealing.
“The fact that Calvert filed six years’ worth of amended disclosures only after the press started asking him questions is a huge red flag. If the earmarks had nothing to do with how and when he and his business partners acquired properties, he should prove it.
“At a minimum, that means disclosing all communications he had with his business partners about the land deals, how and when he personally decided to authorize the earmark, how and when he and his partners made their first offer on the properties, and how and when he decided to communicate the earmark’s approval to the public.
“The unfortunate reality is that corruption is a bipartisan problem in D.C. That’s why I support reforms like term limits, a ban on members from trading stocks, and banning former members from lobbying.”
The LA Times previously published another report, “Rep. Calvert’s Land of Plenty,” revealing that Calvert and his business partners abused the earmark process to increase the value of a lot in Riverside for hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit – a scandal that became the subject of an FBI investigation, raising concerns among Calvert’s own colleagues as to whether he was fit to serve on the House Appropriations Committee, and received extensive coverage on Fox News. Calvert and his business partner reportedly became the subject of another FBI investigation after purchasing property in Mira Loma as part of a no-bid land deal that was an alleged “political favor” to Calvert.
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Will Rollins is a Palm Springs resident and Southern California native. A former federal prosecutor and counterterrorism law attorney, he is now the Democratic nominee for Congress in California’s 41st Congressional District. California’s 41st District is shaping up to be a key 2024 matchup that will help decide the House majority. Punchbowl News called it the #2 most critical race in the battle for control of the House, and the National Journal ranked it as one of its 15 seats most likely to flip this November.
