WASHINGTON -- Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, used $84,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle with a former aide who sued him for sexual harassment in 2014, The Washington Post confirmed Friday.
Farenthold was the first member of Congress confirmed to have benefited from a little-known Treasury Department fund created to cover workplace settlements involving lawmakers. The congressional Office of Compliance disclosed Friday that the fund paid for only one sexual harassment settlement involving a House lawmaker's office in the past five years, but did not name Farenthold.
Later, the Post confirmed that Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., used $150,000 from the fund to settle with a former aide who claimed that he was fired in part because he was not willing to focus his investigative work on Hillary Clinton. At the time, Gowdy was chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
In Farenthold's case, the lawmaker's former communications director, Lauren Greene, accused him of making sexually charged comments designed to gauge whether she was interested in a sexual relationship. She filed suit after going through the Office of Compliance's counseling and mediation process. Farenthold denied wrongdoing in the case.
The revelations shed new light on the secretive process that lawmakers use to settle workplace complaints against them and their aides using public funds. In total, the Treasury fund has paid for settlements related to six claims against House members' offices since 2013, the Office of Compliance wrote in a letter Friday to the Committee on House Administration. The five complaints not pertaining to sexual harassment alleged one or more forms of employment discrimination and, in some cases, retaliation, the letter stated.
In the Office of Compliance's list, the office disclosed that it oversaw one $150,000 settlement involving a claim of veteran status discrimination and retaliation in the past five years.
Bradley Podliska, who reached the settlement with Gowdy and the Benghazi panel, not only claimed that he was fired for his refusal to focus on Clinton but also alleged retaliation by his supervisors because he took leave to fulfill his obligations as an Air Force reservist. His December 2016 settlement was reported by the Post, though the settlement amount was not disclosed at the time.
A spokesman for Gowdy said Friday that he and Podliska "never met or communicated" during the latter's employment.
"The Benghazi Committee no longer exists. I would refer you to House Employment Counsel," Amanda Gonzalez wrote in an email, referring to the legal office that represents lawmakers.
Podliska's lawyer, Peter Romer-Friedman, declined in a phone interview to discuss the details of his client's settlement, citing a confidentiality agreement. However, he said he was not aware of another veterans status discrimination case brought against Congress and settled in the past five years.
"I can confirm that my client is one person who brought a veterans status discrimination and retaliation suit against Congress and that the case settled on terms that were satisfactory to my client," said Romer-Friedman, a civil-rights attorney.
The Treasury settlement fund is not the only source of settlement payments for lawmakers accused of misconduct.
Members such as Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., have used their office budgets to settle -- and conceal -- complaints. Settlements reached using this method are not tracked, and they are difficult to identify, even in congressional offices' payment records.
The House Ethics Committee, requesting documents from the Office of Compliance, indicated Friday that it will review all formal claims of sexual harassment and other misconduct involving members and employees of the lower chamber.
That review -- the committee's first major action after a public outcry over sexual harassment in Congress -- will encompass all current members and employees of the House who have been the subject of complaints, not just those who paid settlements through the Treasury fund.
Under the law, the executive director of the Office of Compliance has the authority to share records of hearings and decisions with the House and Senate ethics committees. The executive director can share all written and oral testimony from hearings and decisions, but not information discussed in mediation.
Laura Cech, a spokesman for the office, said the office's current officials do not recall ever providing records of hearings or decisions to congressional ethics committees.
It is not clear whether Ethics Committee Chairman Susan Brooks, R-Ind., and ranking Democrat Ted Deutch of Florida, who requested records from the office on Friday, plan to make them public or use the information to investigate lawmakers who have been accused of misconduct.
The panel is also probing allegations that Conyers behaved inappropriately toward multiple female aides. House Democratic leaders, as well as a number of rank-and-file members, have called for him to resign over the harassment allegations.
An attorney for Conyers said Friday that the congressman will discuss in the next few days whether to resign, but his health will be the paramount factor and not pressure from Washington politicians.
Arnold Reed said at a news conference that he will be meeting with doctors to assess the medical prognosis for the 88-year-old Conyers after a second round of medical tests.
Conyers returned to Detroit from Washington on Tuesday and was hospitalized the next day. He remains there although no details of his condition have been released.
Information for this article was contributed by Kimberly Kindy of The Washington Post and by Corey Williams of The Associated Press.
A Section on 12/02/2017