The House Ethics Committee recommended censure for Chuck Edwards after finding repeated conduct it said violated the House of Representatives' code of conduct. The report said the behavior involved two young female staffers and included gifts, comments on appearance, and invitations to private dinners and vacations.
Representative Edwards denied that any of his conduct was intended as a sexual or romantic advance, but the committee said his pattern would lead a reasonable observer to read it that way. The panel’s finding now puts a formal House punishment in view for a sitting lawmaker from N.C.
House Ethics Committee report
In its report, the committee said Edwards engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward the two staffers. It said he provided lavish and recurrent gifts, sent notes about his effusive affection, and invited them to other activities to spend time together.
The report also said he told the women when they looked “pretty” or “breathtaking” in the congressional office and remarked on one staffer’s weight. Edwards told the committee he only commented on staffers’ clothing, and the report quoted him as saying, “it’s almost an insult if you don’t make some comment about [one another’s clothing].”
The committee said Edwards wrote poems for Staffer 2, including one he read at her going away party in the congressional office with a slideshow, during which he cried. Several staffers present testified that they felt uncomfortable, and Edwards acknowledged in his own testimony that he could tell the staff felt uncomfortable.
Edwards testimony and messages
The report said some messages relevant to the probe were omitted and or seemingly deleted from Edwards’ phone. That left the committee to rely on testimony, phone material, and the conduct it described across the office setting.
What happens next is a House decision on the censure recommendation, if members take it up. For Edwards, the record now centers on the committee’s finding that the conduct crossed the line it says the House code of conduct sets for members and staff.
