'I hate David and I hate this job': Ex-Schweikert staffers describe unrest in ethics report

Rep. David Schweikert presided over a slipshod office operation with financial oversight so weak that his former chief of staff managed to take home improper, extra pay that violated House ethics rules for years, a newly released investigation found.

Oliver Schwab may have collected $60,000 in outside pay over three years above what House rules permitted, and attended the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale — with Schweikert, R-Ariz. — as part of a taxpayer-paid trip that was reported as official business, the report said.

There were other possible sources of income Schwab had that investigators could not examine during the probe that has dogged the five-term Republican congressman and his operations for more than a year.

Neither Schwab nor Schweikert cooperated with the probe, the report by the Office of Congressional Ethics said. Beyond them, numerous congressional staffers, Schwab's wife and others also refused to participate in the probe.

Apart from the alleged wrongful spending, the 424-page report released Wednesday paints the image of a congressional office simmering with discontent as Schweikert pondered a Senate run — he publicly considered in 2015 a primary challenge to then-Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — and as Schwab took out his frustrations with Schweikert on other staffers.

"David was putting increasing pressure on (Schwab) to raise money because David wanted to run for the Senate," a former deputy chief of staff unnamed in the report who did cooperate, told investigators. "David was basically telling him, 'I need a million dollars if I'm going to run for the Senate.' I think that was weighing on him."

The former staffer said Schwab said: "I hate David and I hate this job," according to the report.

Schweikert is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. The committee's probe is believed to overlap significantly with the matters outlined in the report on Schwab, who resigned last summer, ending the Ethics Committee's jurisdiction over him. 

It is unclear when the investigation into Schweikert will conclude. 

Chris Baker, a Schweikert campaign consultant, said the report confirms their view that Schwab had effectively gone rogue.

"Congressman Schweikert admittedly trusted him," Baker said. "That trust was grossly misplaced. … David trusted Oliver as the senior staffer in his congressional office to provide oversight of the staff."

Baker maintained that Schweikert never personally signed for Schwab’s reimbursements, and that delegating such duties is common on Capitol Hill.

Schwab was not available for comment.

Beau Brunson, who was Schweikert's deputy chief of staff at the time referenced in the report, declined to discuss any involvement in the probes. "No comment. I have moved on with my life," he said Wednesday.

In the past, Schwab and Schweikert have cast the ethics investigations as bookkeeping matters, not scandal. 

"It's almost wonderful because this is the process we needed so we could present," Schweikert said last year of the Ethics Committee's decision to form an investigative subcommittee to probe his case. "There's really no mechanism to say, 'Look, here's our clerical screw-up and here's how we fixed it.' You need the subcommittee because that's the way you get to present what you've taken care of."

"Most of what I have seen reported in the press on this matter is unfortunate and inaccurate speculation," Schwab told The Arizona Republic in May 2018. "While I am not in a place to speak publicly with any further specificity, what I can share with The Republic is that when the campaign became aware of an unintentional reporting mistake, we immediately set to rectify the situation. Please know that we are working with all of the appropriate parties to provide a timely solution."

Report: Schwab had 'full carte blanche' over office funds

The House's Office of Congressional Ethics report on Schwab notes that Schwab made no secret to other staffers of his desire to make more money than his congressional salary offered and he had "full carte blanche" to manage Schweikert's office expenditures. 

Schweikert seemed at least passingly familiar with the system that had little oversight from him, investigators said. 

A former financial administrator for Schweikert told the congressional ethics office "that Rep. Schweikert would jokingly ask her if Mr. Schwab was spending too much money on office supplies and she would jokingly ask Mr. Schwab whether he '(had) Amazon on speed dial.'"

The report is at odds with Schweikert's efforts since late 2017 to cast the issues as accounting discrepancies.

His campaign has spent heavily on legal fees during the probe, and despite saying in interviews that he welcomed a chance to explain his account to investigators, the report says he balked, along with about a dozen other Schweikert staffers tied to his congressional office or campaign committees.

That left unanswered questions about income, travel and other expenses related to Schweikert's office and campaign.

Schwab allegedly attended the 2015 Super Bowl in Glendale as part of a trip billed to Schweikert’s office.

The trip clearly included official business, such as meetings with then-House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

But there were other events that weekend, such as the Waste Management Open, a Phoenix Suns game, Super Bowl festivities and shopping jaunts, that seemed more recreational or campaign-related, the report found.

Schwab did not appear to adjust his official expenses to reflect unofficial activities that should have been at his expense or the expense of the Schweikert campaign, the report said.

"Mr. Schwab may have primarily engaged in campaign or personal activities during at least three of the four full days that he was on the Arizona Trip," the investigators reported.

The lax accounting and extravagant expenditures described in the report also run counter to Schweikert's efforts to cast himself as a math nerd who understands numbers better than his political opponents.

Schweikert is a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful panels on Capitol Hill. At least three Democrats are vying for the right to challenge him in his Scottsdale-based 6th Congressional District next year.

The report includes interviews with unnamed former Schweikert staffers who cooperated with the probe and described a dysfunctional office.

The former deputy chief of staff told investigators that he left the office in early 2017 after Schwab had volcanic eruptions repeatedly berating him. Schwab had indicated he had planned to leave throughout 2016 as Schweikert tried to ramp up for a potential Senate run that he ultimately didn't launch.

Baker acknowledged Schweikert had considered running for the Senate, but ruled it out quickly.

"We did not give anywhere near the level of consideration for running for the Senate as that unnamed staffer claims," Baker said.

Helping donors

The report also suggested the line between the Schweikert campaign and his congressional office blurred in other ways.

Another unnamed former Schweikert staffer who cooperated, a legislative director, told investigators they routinely briefed Schweikert on issues ahead of meetings with prospective donors. The former staffer estimated it could have been about 20 percent of official work time in election years.

Investigators sought to connect Schweikert’s official actions with his donors, and the former staffer offered an example involving an organization advocating grants to Africa that seemed to come close.

"I can’t remember the organization specifically, but he, the gentleman and his organization, contributed to the campaign," the former staffer told investigators. "Following the contribution, Oliver asked me to set up a meeting with him to discuss their issues. Then following that meeting, we subsequently submitted letters in support of their initiatives."

Their interest in the organization was no accident, the former staffer told investigators.

"What I was told is that the gentleman … donated to the campaign and that we want to be as friendly as we can and as helpful as we can because of those contributions," the staffer said. "I don’t think there was a direct quid pro quo, but Oliver clearly made it certain that we wanted to be helpful because he was a donor."

A tough workplace

The former deputy chief of staff told investigators that Schwab had made work conditions unbearable.

"I felt that the office had become unstable. I had been given assurances that the chief of staff was leaving, and when he decided to stay he became somewhat abusive to me and another senior staffer," the former deputy chief of staff said, according to a transcript of the interview. "I was then given the option of staying for a dramatically reduced salary … or leaving with a six-month severance."

The former staffer said he did not receive the promised severance.

The instability stemmed from Schwab, the staffer said. "He was showing signs of severe stress and anger at the member and was lashing out at me," the staffer said. 

"Basically through the entire year of 2016 he would go through these tirades against the member ... about how awful David was and how he hated it and how he was going to quit."

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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