Ethics panel launches Renzi probe

Indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) is feeling more heat from his colleagues.

The House ethics committee Thursday announced that it had launched an investigation into Renzi’s alleged promise to support legislation in exchange for a land deal that netted him more than $700,000. The Justice Department unsealed a 35-count indictment last Friday, charging Renzi with conspiracy, money laundering, extortion and insurance fraud.

{mosads}Renzi’s attorneys have denied that the lawmaker was involved in any wrongdoing.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) since has urged Renzi to resign but the accused lawmaker has resisted the request.

A statement from Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who chairs the ethics committee, and its ranking member, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), said the investigative subcommittee convened to determine whether Renzi “violated the Code of Official Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to his conduct in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities.”

The subcommittee’s jurisdiction also would include “any and all matters that may be contained in any superceding indictment,” the release said.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) will serve as chairman of the investigative subcommittee while Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) will be its ranking member. Other members of the subcommittee include: Rep. Steven Rothman (D-N.J.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.).

Renzi is accused of receiving $733,000 in a land deal, money he did not disclose to Congress as income in his 2005 financial disclosure statement. Prosecutors charge that Renzi used his position as a member of Congress to ensure that a 2005 land exchange included land owned by a business partner and tried to hide that income.

Renzi was having financial difficulty in 2005 and “needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and maintain his personal lifestyle,” the indictment said.