Rostenkowski Lawyers Seek Records of House Store

Lawyers for former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) on Friday asked a federal judge to allow them to subpoena House stationery store records for every member of Congress since 1988 to help show his use of the store was no different than anyone else.

Calling the documents “critically relevant” to Rostenkowski’s defense, the lawyers said they want records showing orders, purchases and reimbursements by all members of Congress. “This motion is a good-faith effort to obtain evidence for use at trial,” the lawyers said in court papers, “ . . . and cannot be characterized as a ‘fishing expedition.’ ”

Such records could bolster Rostenkowski’s claim he did what everyone else in the House was doing at the time.

Kevin A. Ohlson, a spokesman for U.S. Atty. Eric H. Holder Jr., said prosecutors are interested in Rostenkowski’s claims. “If Mr. Rostenkowski or anyone else knows of evidence of similar criminal misconduct on the part of other members of Congress, it should be reported to us promptly,” he said. “We will then conduct an appropriate investigation to determine whether additional crimes have been committed.”

Rostenkowski, a former Ways and Means Committee chairman, is charged in a 17-count indictment with engaging in illegal activities spanning three decades. He is accused of using congressional funds to buy personal gifts, hiring ghost workers, using official cars as his own and cashing in stamps at the House post office.

The subpoena deals only with allegations he bilked taxpayers out of more than $40,000 in valuable merchandise obtained at the House stationery store. The indictment alleges he did not pay for the items as he should have because they were for his personal use.

Rostenkowski’s lawyers said they recently asked the House Oversight Committee for the records but were turned down. Cheryl Lau, House counsel, said she had not seen the subpoena, which will go first to House leaders of both parties, who will decide whether to refer it to her.

Rostenkowski attorneys want U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson to force the House to provide the records immediately, rather than on the eve of trial as is customary, because they believe that the documents will be voluminous. They also said they are concerned that some of the records may be destroyed by the House.

No trial date has been set pending resolution of an appeal of an unrelated issue.