Sen. Harkin threatens hearing for NLRB member in ethics scandal

By Kevin Bogardus - 05/08/12 02:26 PM ET

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on Tuesday threatened to hold a congressional hearing after receiving little cooperation from a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who is alleged to have broken ethics rules.

Terence Flynn, a Republican NLRB member who was recess-appointed to the labor board in January by President Obama, has been the subject of two recent reports by the agency's inspector general (IG). The IG reports allege that Flynn, when he was an agency chief counsel, broke ethics rules by leaking confidential information to people outside of the NLRB, including Peter Schaumber, a former NLRB member and ex-campaign adviser to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Flynn has denied all wrongdoing.

In a letter sent to Flynn on Tuesday, Harkin said the NLRB member should resign because of his conduct.

"The conduct described in the reports breaches the most fundamental trust placed in a federal employee, particularly one entrusted to be an impartial adjudicator. Through your actions, you have potentially violated the due process rights of the parties, undermined the enforcement of laws enacted by Congress, and demonstrated a fundamental lack of integrity and the professional judgment required of a public servant. You also breached numerous standards of ethical conduct," Harkin wrote.

Harkin, as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Flynn "failed to provide a single document or to acknowledge any additional communications that could have violated the confidentiality of Board deliberations" in response to an investigation by the panel.

The committee chairman repeated his document request in the letter Tuesday and also threatened to call a hearing on Flynn's actions.

"I also reserve the right to call you, Mr. Schaumber, and any other party involved in your misconduct to come before this Committee to explain your actions," Harkin wrote.

The senator said Flynn should comply with the committee's request for documents by May 14.

Flynn's attorney, Barry Coburn, was copied onto Harkin's letter. Coburn referred The Hill to his response to the IG's second report, dated from last month.

“We strenuously object to the ‘renewed’ investigation of Mr. Flynn and to the purported findings set forth in the supplemental report. Indeed, the entire course and conduct of this investigation, much of which is unprecedented, raises serious questions as to its objectivity, impartiality, independence, and intended purpose,” Coburn wrote in a letter in response to that IG report.

Schaumber also didn't immediately respond to messages asking for comment for this piece.