The House Ethics Committee recommended a censure of Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., after an investigation found there was “substantial reason to believe” he violated sexual harassment and hostile workplace rules.
The panel’s report, released Monday, concluded that Edwards engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct” toward two female staffers of his. Edwards denied his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, the report says.
The congressman sent deeply personal texts and spent thousands of dollars on gifts for the women, according to the report. “That Representative Edwards did all these things to two young staffers, repeatedly over a sustained period, was beyond inappropriate,” it states.
Among the gifts, according to the report, were jewelry, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a KitchenAid mixer, a robotic vacuum, vacations, performance tickets and one-on-one dinners.
Both staffers began working for Edwards while he was a state senator and moved with him to his congressional office. One was 19 when she began as an intern in Edwards’ state Senate office and, despite having not yet finished college when he was elected to Congress, he “insisted” on hiring her to be his scheduler. The other worked in Congress as his legislative staffer.
