A liberal watchdog group is seeking an investigation into Inland Empire Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California’s congressional delegation.
The campaign finance reform group Ultimate Citizens United filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics on Tuesday, accusing Calvert of failing to disclose information about various rental properties he owns in Riverside County.
The complaint follows a New York Times report that Calvert used a legislative process called earmarks to obtain more than $100 million in taxpayer funds for his district, including more than $16 million for his own rental properties within a few miles of transportation project.
“This is a baseless complaint from a far-left super PAC that supports Ken’s opponent, and worse yet, it misunderstands the facts,” said Calvin Moore, spokesman for Calvert’s re-election campaign.
Questions about Calvert’s real estate investments have resurfaced as the longtime congressman faces off with former federal prosecutor Will Rawlings, a Democrat. California’s 47th Congressional District, which includes Corona and Palm Springs, is considered one of the most competitive districts in the country.
The New York Times found that Calvert failed to disclose the purchase of an auto repair center in Corona he acquired in 2016, an omission that his office said was a clerical error. The property is about a mile from a bridge that received a $2 million earmark through Calvert’s office.
Calvert and his brother purchased the property for $2.25 million in September 2016 and own an 11% stake in the deal, worth $247,000, his office said.
Moore said Calvert “has always gone to great lengths to provide transparency in its financial disclosure statements.” Calvert last week filed six years of revised financial disclosures disclosing his purchase of the auto repair center.
The indictment filed Tuesday also alleges that Calvert failed to report the purchase of two other properties in Corona and Palm Springs. Jason Gagnon, a spokesman for Calvert’s office, said one of the properties was properly disclosed and the other was a personal loan that Calvert disclosed “even though he was not required to do so.”
The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent group without subpoena power that reviews allegations against House members and in some cases refers cases to the House Ethics Committee for further investigation.
