South Jersey Congressman Andrews' PAC Cash Investigation Featured On 60 Minutes
By Dan Wing
HADDON HEIGHTS, N.J. (CBS) - A report on CBS' 60 Minutes Sunday night profiled how members of Congress use Political Action Committees, or PACs, which have few rules overseeing how funds are used.
Among the politicians profiled, and interviewed, was Southern New Jersey Representative Rob Andrews. Andrews is under investigation for unusual campaign spending by a Congressional Ethics Committee.
After being denied an interview at his office, reporter Steve Kroft was able to catch up with Andrews outside of a hearing, where Kroft questioned the Democratic Congressman about him using $16,000 from his leadership PAC to fly his family to Scotland to attend the wedding of a man he was considering hiring as a political consultant:
"I follow the rules, met the standards, and there is a matter pending before the House Ethics Committee," Andrews said. "Under those rules, my obligation is not to talk about the investigation until it's over," to which Kroft replied that the Ethics Committee had given him the OK to answer some questions, but Andrews still refused:
"As my understanding of the rules are that when there is a pending matter I'm supposed to keep it confidential, so I'm going to follow those rules."
The investigation of Andrews' campaign spending also alleges that he used money to advance his daughter's career. Andrews did say that clearer rules should be set for how PACs spend money.
