Editorial: Federal law no minor concern

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

The Justice Department has declined to pursue an investigation into allegations that Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., made fundraising calls from his office, a serious charge.

All a Justice Department spokesman would say is that the FBI referred the investigation to the department and it was "declined."

Unfortunately, that doesn't give any indication as to whether there's any truth to the allegation. Former Republican National Committee general counsel Jan Witold Baran told reporter Tony Cook in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun that the Justice Department "doesn't devote its limited resources to something that is relatively very minor and that is unlikely to occur again."

If those are the reasons for dropping the investigation, that's a shame. We don't consider violations of federal law "minor" - the law carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a fine of $5,000 - and it shouldn't ever be an issue. Members of Congress know this law well. They are taught to leave federal buildings to make fundraising calls.

The FBI investigation still leaves questions. Jim Shepard, Porter's former scheduler who made the claims, said no one interviewed him about the allegations.

Shepherd says he has a sponsor to take the complaint to the bipartisan House Ethics Committee, which we believe should conduct a full and fair investigation into the matter and release its findings. If he has done nothing wrong, Porter should welcome such action that would clear his name, as the Justice Department probe did not.