House ethics committee fines Don Young

The House Ethics Committee ordered Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) to pay a nearly $60,000 fine for taking 15 inappropriate trips, using campaign funds for personal use and accepting other unethical gifts.

Young — who has battled a series of federal investigations and ethics panel probes for seven years — was hit with a "letter of reproval" rebuking him for the misconduct.

The ethics committee examined 25 trips that Young, his family and staff took to hunting lodges between 2001 and 2013, determining that 15 were inappropriate. The focus of the trips came during a four-year period — 2003 to 2007 — that was also the focus of a sprawling FBI investigation into inappropriate ties to an Alaska energy firm and the state's top elected officials.

Young must repay the money with personal funds to his campaign and to those that gave him the hunting trips and other gifts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/20/house-ethics-committee-fines-don-young/