Rep. Jerry Weller has been in the news a lot lately.  His ethical woes have been bubbling up -- and last week, Weller announced that he's retiring at the end of this session of Congress.

Last week, CREW also named Weller one of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress in our report, Beyond DeLay.  Here's how he earned that designation:

Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL) is a seventh-term member of Congress, representing the 11th district of Illinois. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and until 2006, served on the House International Relations Committee. Rep. Weller’s ethics issues stem from his repeated failure to report assets he bought and sold in Nicaragua, the misuse of his position to sell foreign property, his acceptance of campaign contributions from Puerto Rican interests in apparent exchange for supporting legislation that benefitted Puerto Rico, and his acceptance of campaign contributions in return for assisting a telecommunications executive in a dispute with a foreign government. In addition, there is a question as to whether Rep. Weller qualifies for a waiver allowing him to exclude his wife’s assets and liabilities from his financial disclosure forms.

Nicaraguan Land Holdings

In 2002, Rep. Weller bought the first of numerous lots of ocean-view property in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. According to Rep. Weller’s 2002 financial disclosure form, the lot was worth between $50,000 and $100,000. Property records in Nicaragua, however, show that Rep. Weller paid only about $4,333 for the land. The Chicago Tribune has reported that buyers of property on Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast frequently reported artificially low purchase prices “to lessen the bite of local taxes.” Within a year of this purchase Rep. Weller was seated on the House International Relations Committee and Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, which focused on Latin America.

From 2002 through 2005, Rep. Weller purchased and sold at least eight different pieces of land in Nicaragua, although he disclosed only one purchase and one sale on his financial disclosure forms. Rep. Weller’s failure to disclose the purchase and sale of several pieces of property in Nicaragua during the past five years is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act and House rules. In addition, the discrepancies between the value Rep. Weller assigned to those Nicaraguan properties that he did report and the value of the properties listed in the bills of sale and other Nicaraguan property records suggest that Rep. Weller may not have truthfully reported the properties’ value on his financial disclosure forms in violation of federal law.

Support for Puerto Rican Interests

Despite the fact that Rep. Weller represents a rural district in Illinois, he has been a strong advocate for Puerto Rico and has used his position on the Ways and Means Committee to push for Puerto Rican interests. On May 4, 2005, Rep. Weller received $16,000 from 17 individuals with various interests in Puerto Rico. The following day, a bill backed by Puerto Rico’s business interests as well as Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuno and subsequently co-sponsored by Rep. Weller was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee.

If, Rep. Weller accepted campaign donations from individuals and entities with interests in Puerto Rico in direct exchange for providing legislative assistance to Puerto Rico, he may have violated the bribery statute.

Assistance for Telecommunications Executive

Rep. Weller used his congressional influence to assist telecommunications executive Jeffrey Prosser when the government of Belize seized Mr. Prosser’s business assets. In response, Rep. Weller hand-delivered a letter to government officials in Belize suggesting that the government’s decision to seize Mr. Prosser’s business assets might hurt future investments in that country. During that same year, Rep. Weller received campaign contributions totaling $4,200 from Mr. Prosser and his wife.

If a link is established between the campaign donations Rep. Weller received from Mr. and Mrs. Prosser and Rep. Weller’s intervention with the government of Belize, Rep. Weller may have accepted bribes or illegal gratuities. In addition, Rep. Weller’s apparent acceptance of campaign contributions in return for legislative favors does not reflect creditably on the House.