Frelinghuysen Hires Ethics Lawyers

New Jersey Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen has spent almost $32,000 on lawyers in the last three months to defend himself against an ethics complaint stemming from a fundraising letter he sent in March. At the bottom of the form letter to a member of the board of directors of Lakeland Bank, he scrawled a note complaining about one of the bank's employees.

"P.S. One of the the ringleaders works in your bank!" the veteran Republican wrote next to his signature. The employee, a lawyer for the bank,  ended up leaving her job. That prompted the Campaign for Accountability, an non-profit group in Washington, to file an ethics complaint.

Since then, Frelinghuysen has hired two legal firms, according to federal campaign spending reports. Wiley Rein LLP is a prominent government ethics firm in Washington and Herold Law is a Warren, N.J., firm that specializes in tax and civil litigation. The spending was first reported by The Record newspaper. 

Frelinghuysen was named chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee just this year. He represents the 11th district in New Jersey and has been the target of constant protests from constituents since the election of Donald Trump. In 2018, he's expected to face his toughest re-election campaign since he arrived in Congress 22 years ago.