The secretive religious foundation which provides favorably priced housing in Washington, D.C., to a select group of senators and congressmen, including Tennessee's Dist. 3 Rep. Zach Wamp, has come under fire again for operating the C Street house under the tax exempt status accorded to religious institutions. Two new complaints reasonably raise issues that beg transparent answers about the legal status of The Fellowship's Washington house and the ethical propriety of the lawmakers who reside there.
One complaint, filed by a government watchdog group with the congressional ethics office, questions whether Rep. Wamp and the seven other House and Senate members who live there are violating ethics rules that bar members of Congress from accepting steeply discounted rates for their living quarters in Washington.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the living arrangement appears to violate ethics rules for two reasons: First, the rates for comparable housing in the nearby area around the Capitol are far more expensive than the rent charged to the C Street house occupants, which suggests its rates violate the de facto gift ban. Secondly, such housing is off-limits, she said, because it offers lodging only to members of Congress. Such exclusivity should preclude their use of it.
The other complaint, filed Monday with the Internal Revenue Service by a group called Clergy Voice, also cited the C Street house's deeply discounted prices and the apparent violation by its occupants of IRS rules that require reporting of the value of such gifts as income. Clergy Voice, a group of Ohio ministers, said similar nearby accommodations, according to a survey it recently made, ranged in price from $4,500 to $7,500 a month. It said one-bedroom efficiency apartments in the Capitol area generally cost around $1,700.
That contrasts sharply with the $600 that Rep. Wamp said he pays in base rent, excluding food. Mr. Wamp, however, denied that he has violated gift and ethics bans. He said his room rate has remained unchanged for years, but that he moved into a spartan eight-by-10 foot single room that has no closet or bathroom.
Given the other amenities of the commodious house -- a kitchen and common living areas -- that still amounts to a low price.
What is most incongruous about The Fellowship's tax exempt status for the house as a church is the behavior of some of its previous residents. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, and former Congressman Mark Sanford, now-the beleaguered Republican governor of South Carolina, became embroiled in scandals for separate adulterous affairs while they were residents of the C Street house. Such behavior certainly is at odds with the focus of the National Prayer Breakfast which The Fellowship, also known as The Family, sponsors for Congress and Washington big-shots every year.
That prompted the Clergy Voice group to file an earlier complaint with the IRS in which it claimed the C Street House was clearly not a house of worship that merits tax-exempt status, but rather was "an exclusive club for powerful officials ... masquerading as a church."
That seems to be the case. It certainly raises questions the IRS and the congressional ethics committee should pursue. Indeed, it seems unjust that The Fellowship continues to get tax exempt status for the C Street House as a church, or that it's members get sweetheart rental rates. Given its recent history, the C Street house would seem more similar to a good-time house where members mainly prayed not to get caught sinning. Members usually pay higher rates for that.