Fauntroy Issue Referred to Ethics Panel : Charges Say D.C. Delegate Gave No-Show Job to Colleague’s Son

The Justice Department said today it has referred to the House ethics committee allegations that Walter E. Fauntroy, the District of Columbia’s non-voting congressional delegate, hired a colleague’s son for a no-show job.

The department, which decided recently not to bring criminal charges against Fauntroy following a lengthy investigation, referred the matter for review by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Although there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Fauntroy, “there was information that the House ethics committee might want to look at,” said spokesman David Runkel, who declined to give further details.

Fauntroy, a Democrat, was the subject of a 15-month investigation by the department into allegations that he had hired the son of Rep. Gus Savage (D-Ill.) for a no-show job.

Thomas Savage was on Fauntroy’s payroll from September, 1987, through June, 1988, except for an unpaid leave of absence, a period when he said he went to Illinois to run for the Legislature.

Under House rules, congressional employees must work in Washington or in the district the member represents.

Runkel said a parallel investigation of Gus Savage had also been closed for lack of evidence to warrant any prosecution, but the matter also was referred to the House ethics committee.

The Justice Department examined whether the elder Savage was aware of any possible wrongdoing in Fauntroy’s hiring of his son, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fauntroy is a candidate for Washington, D.C., mayor in this fall’s election and may not seek re-election to his House seat.

The Washington Post today quoted unidentified sources as saying the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section believed there “were some things the ethics committee might want to look at” in the case of Savage’s son.

A spokesman for Fauntroy, Abbe Lowell, said that referral to the committee is routine in such cases, saying the department “has done no more and no less than follow their normal practices.”