US House censures NC Rep. Chuck Edwards for inappropriate conduct, harassment

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday 413-2 to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican representing western North Carolina, for his inappropriate conduct towards two female staffers working in his office.

Edwards stood in the well of the House to hear the reading of censure after the vote.

A lengthy House Ethics Committee investigation released this summer found “substantial evidence” that Edwards created a “hostile work environment.”

In its report, the House Ethics Committee found Edwards gave the two young female staffers gifts including jewelry worth over $1,000, a Las Vegas trip, and “designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners.”

On another occasion, Edwards skipped a House vote to decorate a Christmas tree with a female staffer, according to the Ethics review.

Ethics Committee Chairman Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, said Tuesday while the committee found no evidence that Edwards engaged in sexual activity with the women, he violated rules prohibiting sexual harassment.

“The committee reviewed Rep. Edwards conduct and determined that he engaged in persistent, unprofessional, and inappropriate conduct,” said Guest. “While Rep. Edwards denies that his conduct was intended to be sexual or romantic, his pattern of behavior would lead a reasonable person to interpret it as such.”

“The committee found that Rep. Edwards was at a minimum blind to the reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his conduct had on the careers and well-being of the women on his staff,” Guest said.

Edwards denied the findings of the ethics committee report, insisting that his behavior, while perhaps ill-advised, didn’t rise to the level of sexual harassment. He used some of his time on the floor to apologize to the two staffers, both of whom subsequently left their jobs.

“I’m sorry that my actions, my judgment, or the way that I express the friendship ever puteither of you in an uncomfortable position,” said Edwards. “My intentions were only grounded in what I understood our friendship to be and in genuine admiration and respect I had for each of you, not only as professionals, but as people.”

Edwards then apologized to his wife.

“Teresa, you stood beside me through a lifetime of challenges, sacrifices, successes, and disappointments,” Edwards said. “I’m deeply sorry that my judgment and my actions put you in a position where you had to endure embarrassment, hurt, public scrutiny, and questions that no wife should ever have to face.”

Edwards stressed that his acknowledgement of regret and poor judgment was not an admission of sexual harassment. “Generosity is not sexual harassment,” he said. “Caring deeply about the people with whom you’ve worked for years is not sexual harassment.”

He asked his colleagues to spare him from a label that would mar his name and record in Congress.