Welcome to Pay Dirt—exclusive reporting and research from The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay on corruption, campaign finance, and influence-peddling in the nation’s capital. For Beast Inside members only.
When freshman Rep. Harley Rouda (D-CA) grabbed the mic at a February hearing to extol the virtues of House Democrats’ new ethics reform bill, he was already in violation of a key provision of the bill designed to root out official conflicts of interest.
The bill, a sweeping piece of legislation given the prominent designation of H.R. 1, signifying the 116th Congress’ first official legislative act, would bar members of Congress from serving on the boards of for-profit entities. Rouda cosponsored the bill within a week of taking office in January. But his office acknowledged to PAY DIRT this week that Rouda himself maintained seats on four corporate boards until just this month.