Two top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are pressing Metro for additional details on the ethics probe that eventually led to former board Chairman Jack Evans’ resignation.
In a letter sent Tuesday to current Metro Board Chairman Paul Smedberg, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows ask for the supporting documents behind Metro’s Ethics Committee investigation.
“The apparent lack of documentation about the investigation raises questions about whether this effort was a genuine one, or simply a whitewash,” said the letter, obtained by WTOP.
The letter requests “all documents and communications referring or relating to the investigation into Evans’s conduct,” including interview transcripts or summaries, and “underlying evidence.”
The congressmen also want Metro to provide communications about the Ethics Committee’s original decision not to produce written findings of the investigation.
Though the letter requests the information by July 30, it was not signed by Democratic committee leaders Rep. Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, of Virginia.
Connolly’s office said he was not asked to join the letter, and told WTOP he is planning a broader oversight hearing on Metro after Labor Day.
“I have long supported bringing transparency and accountability to the Jack Evans ethics inquiry. I look forward to our subcommittee holding a hearing on Metro in September and working with Mr. Jordan and Mr. Meadows as well as Chairman Cummings on that hearing,” Connolly said in a statement Tuesday.
Connolly has pushed for Evans to resign from the Metro Board, calling the evidence revealed in mid-June “clear” that Evans had used his public position for personal gain and to benefit a client. “Jack Evans is a walking billboard for the ethically challenged, represents a clear and present threat to restoring public confidence in Metro’s integrity, jeopardizes our efforts to renew federal support for Metro in Congress, and should resign immediately,” Connolly said in a statement at the time.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has held hearings on Metro in the past.
Evans remains under federal investigation and is now the focus of a separate ethics probe from his colleagues on the D.C. Council.
Read the full letter below.
House Republicans ask Metro for Jack Evans ethics documents by wtopweb on Scribd
