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Group seeks probe into congressman over note to critic’s job

FILE – In this March 13, 2014, file photo, U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, left, R-N.J., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, shakes hands with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, right, prior to Hagel's testimony on the Defense Department's fiscal 2015 budget on Capitol Hill in Washington. Saily Avelenda, a New Jersey woman who joined a group urging Frelinghuysen to distance himself from President Donald Trump's policies, says she quit her job at Lakeland Bank after Frelinghuysen's fundraising letter to the bank included a handwritten note saying a "ringleader" of the protest movement worked there, Monday, May 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE – In this March 13, 2014, file photo, U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, left, R-N.J., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, shakes hands with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, right, prior to Hagel's testimony on the Defense Department's fiscal 2015 budget on Capitol Hill in Washington. Saily Avelenda, a New Jersey woman who joined a group urging Frelinghuysen to distance himself from President Donald Trump's policies, says she quit her job at Lakeland Bank after Frelinghuysen's fundraising letter to the bank included a handwritten note saying a "ringleader" of the protest movement worked there, Monday, May 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) FILE – In this March 13, 2014, file photo, U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, left, R-N.J., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, shakes hands with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, right, prior to Hagel's testimony on the Defense Department's fiscal 2015 budget on Capitol Hill in Washington. Saily Avelenda, a New Jersey woman who joined a group urging Frelinghuysen to distance himself from President Donald Trump's policies, says she quit her job at Lakeland Bank after Frelinghuysen's fundraising letter to the bank included a handwritten note saying a "ringleader" of the protest movement worked there, Monday, May 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

By Associated Press 1 min read

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – A nonpartisan watchdog group wants officials to determine if a New Jersey congressman violated House ethics rules when he notified a bank board member that an employee had joined a group critical of him and President Donald Trump’s policies.

The Campaign for Accountability announced Tuesday that it has asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate longtime Republican Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee.

Saily (SAY’-lee) Avelenda says Frelinghuysen included a handwritten note on a letter to a Lakeland Bank board member that said a “ringleader” of the protest movement worked there. Avelenda says she wasn’t asked to resign but was uncomfortable about being confronted over her outside activities and ended up quitting her job.

Frelinghuysen’s office has said he wrote a brief and innocuous note.”