The Senate must reject former Representative Anthony D’Esposito’s nomination for Inspector General at the Department of Labor due to his history of allegedly violating ethics rules, according to a statement for the record submitted to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs by Donald Sherman, CREW’s Executive Director and Chief Counsel.

Inspector generals are responsible for providing critical independent oversight that improves the integrity of government regardless of political party or who sits in the Oval Office. Former Rep. D’Esposito’s background and track record indicate that he lacks the ethical fortitude to carry out this responsibility. 

While in Congress, D’Esposito may have violated House ethics rules designed to prevent nepotism and corruption. Although members of Congress are prohibited from engaging in sexual relationships with employees who work under them, D’Esposito reportedly hired a woman that he was having an affair with. Moreover, D’Esposito hired his fiancée’s daughter to work as a special assistant in his district office, which ethics experts argued violated the spirit of the House rules against hiring spouses or relatives. 

Prior to his time in Congress, D’Esposito contended with numerous ethics controversies. When he was a councilmember for the Hempstead City Council, a court held that his failure to abstain from a vote benefitting his family violated the spirit and intent of the Town Ethics Code. When he worked for the New York Police Department, D’Esposito was accused of lying to a grand jury, conducting illegal stop-and-frisks, false arrests and detentions as well as wrongfully seizing a gold chain during an arrest, leading to an internal affairs corruption investigation that was partially substantiated.

Inspectors general are meant to protect against corruption, not perpetuate it. D’Esposito’s repeated apparent contravention of ethics rules and standards indicate that he lacks the virtues and prudence required of an inspector general. For those reasons, Congress must reject his nomination. 

CREW’s statement for the record additionally comments on Paul Ingrassia, the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security whose nomination for special counsel at the Office of Special Counsel was recently withdrawn. Ingrassia’s disdain for civil servants and dangerous rhetoric raises serious concerns about his continued role as liaison. Ingrassia has referred to civil servants as “parasites” who “leech off the diminishing lifeblood of the dying Republic” and “bugmen that overwhelmingly have no real skill sets to offer.” In his private conduct, Ingrassia has allegedly sent racist and antisemitic text messages saying that “MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” and “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time.”

In addition to this rhetoric, Ingrassia faced an official investigation over alleged sexual harassment stemming from an incident at an Orlando hotel where he allegedly contrived to have a lower-level female colleague share a hotel room with him while he was serving as White House liaison for the DHS. 

Congress must examine whether it is appropriate for Ingrassia to continue serving as White House liaison to DHS.

Read the testimony here.

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