Andrews defends earmarks for wife's school

U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews has directed more than $2 million in federal earmarks to his wife's employer since 2001, making them targets of criticism as both seek nominations in New Jersey's June 3 Democratic primary.

As Camille Andrews campaigns to take her husband's First District House seat, Republican candidate Dale Glading is calling the earmarks to the Rutgers School of Law in Camden "borderline unethical."

And as her husband runs against U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Lautenberg's campaign is asking him to explain himself to voters.

Yesterday, Andrews said: "There is zero connection between Camille's compensation and the program."

The grants fund scholarships for law students, pay for having law students give free legal advice to Camden residents, and bolster the school's program to encourage students to go into public service.

"I would like to thank Frank Lautenberg and his Republican running mate for calling attention to this program," Andrews said.

Earmarks are discretionary grants that members of Congress give to programs and projects in their districts. Until last year, when Congress changed ethics rules, members did not have to disclose as much information about earmarks and had few restrictions on what they could fund, said Craig Holman of the nonpartisan group Public Citizen, who helped write the new rules.

Now, "those rules require that any member seeking an earmark has to certify that they or their spouse or family does not personally benefit from that earmark," Holman said.

Andrews obtained the earmarks between 2001 and 2005. An application for a $650,000 earmark is pending.

Camille Andrews started working at the law school in 1996; she has been on leave since September from her position as associate dean for admissions.

Holman said the only way the Andrews-Rutgers earmarks "would fail the current ethics standard is that in some way her employment changed - a promotion or a raise - was conditioned on that earmark."

In 2007, Andrews got an opinion from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct saying there would be no conflict, based on his attorney's assertions that Camille Andrews would not benefit because of the earmark. Rayman Solomon, the law school dean, said the university's internal counsel had advised that there would be no conflict.

Andrews' campaign noted that he was one of the first in Congress to disclose his earmarks. Still, there is the political fallout.

Glading said that "from my perspective and those who share my concerns, Rob might as well have taken $600,000 in small bills, wrapped them in a brown paper bag, and put them on Camille's desk."

"If you're going to bring back money to Camden . . . there are a whole lot better ways to spend it than on tuition scholarships to law students," he added.

Lautenberg's campaign spokeswoman, Julie Roginsky said, "It seems Congressman Andrews owes New Jersey taxpayers an explanation as to why he constantly directed taxpayer money to a program his wife controls, even when Rutgers didn't ask him to."

While Camille Andrews sits on a committee that reviews scholarships, she does not make the final decisions, Solomon said.

According to an internal Rutgers document describing the earmarks, the law school did not "apply or ask for these earmarks."

Solomon said he had put that note on the document because the university requires schools to go through a central clearinghouse at the university for earmarks so they don't compete against each other for funding.

He said the note was his way of telling university bureaucrats that the law school didn't need to apply to the university's central office for the earmarks because Andrews already supported the law school program.

Andrews' campaign spokesman, Michael Murphy, said the political criticism, particularly from Lautenberg, was "despicable."

He said Lautenberg's campaign was struggling to draw attention away from news stories questioning Lautenberg's residency in New Jersey.

Lautenberg owns a condominium in Cliffside Park, N.J., but his wife lives in New York so she can take care of her chronically ill mother, according to his campaign.