Riaa Payment For Sensenbrenner Trip Under Scrutiny

The Center for Public Integrity, a public-interest group that investigates corruption in government, says the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee may have violated House ethics rules.

The Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) paid $18,000 in travel expenses to F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., chairman of the committee that oversees copyright issues. Sensenbrenner, his wife, and a committee staffer took a five-day trip to Thailand and Taiwan in January so the legislator could speak to foreign officials about U.S. concerns regarding piracy.

The RIAA has worked closely with the U.S. Trade Representative through several administrations to try and contain massive sound-recording piracy problems in both countries.

Bill Allison, spokesman for the D.C.-based center, says Sensenbrenner "may have crossed the line" of House Rule 25 that bars members of Congress and staff from accepting expenses "from a private source for travel, the primary purpose of which is to conduct official business."

A spokesman for the House Standards of Official Conduct Committeee would not comment on whether it would review the facts on the Sensenbrenner trip, but under House rules, committee members can initiate review if they receive information that there is an indication of a gross violation, including stories in the press.

An Ethics Committee spokesman says that in general, there are exceptions for House Rule 25 that allow for such travel.

RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy says piracy rates in Thailand and Taiwan "are astronomical." The RIAA felt a Congressional representative would send a strong message. "Given that Chairman Sensenbrenner was willing to take this trip on behalf of all copyright industries and did not want the taxpayers to foot the bill," Lamy says, "we felt it appropriate to pay for it."

Sensenbrenner spokesman Jeff Lungren said the "fact-finding and educational" trip allowed his boss to "[get his] point across clearly to high-level foreign officials and at no cost to the American taxpayer.'' Allison counters that if the issue was that important, taxpayers should have paid for it.

Though Allison questions the trip, he will not label it "illegal." "It's a tricky area and may be interpreted [by the Ethics Committee] differently. To us, though, it's the question of access it allows and the fact that his conversations [with the government officials] went way beyond a 'fact-finding' mission. It looks like he's carrying the RIAA's water."