It turns out you can write "poetry is not sexual misconduct" to every one of your colleagues and they will censure you anyway.
On Tuesday, the House voted 413-2 to formally rebuke Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) over the Ethics Committee's finding of "persistent, unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" toward two young female staffers.
It's a rare and pointed punishment, arriving despite the 22-page "Dear Colleague" letter Edwards spent the recess circulating—the one with the line destined to outlive his entire congressional career.
Per tradition, Edwards stood in the well of the House while the resolution was read aloud—the ritual public shaming that is the whole point of a censure. A man who wrote 22 pages to avoid exactly this moment got it anyway, in front of everyone.
House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) laid out the panel’s conclusion on the floor just ahead of the vote, stating that “Rep. Edwards was aware that the women were uncomfortable with his behavior. The women communicated their feeling of discomfort to senior staff, who then spoke with Rep. Edwards on their behalf. Rep. Edwards did [not] appreciate the action of senior staff expressing the discomfort felt by the two women and continued [his] behavior.”
“The committee found that Rep. Edwards was, at a minimum, blind to the reality and at worst, dismissive of the impact his conduct had on the career and well-being [of] the women on his staff,” Guest added.
Edwards urged his colleagues to vote against the measure on the floor while apologizing to the two former staffers and his wife.
“I can acknowledge poor judgment, regret, the discomfort that some of my actions may have caused and apologize to those who were hurt by this episode while still disputing a conclusion [that] the evidence just does not support,” he said during debate.
The Ethics Committee's report found "substantial evidence" that Edwards—65 and married since 1980—made unwanted advances toward two staffers in their 20s and blurred every professional line in the process.
The committee catalogued a startling volume of gifts —“jewelry totaling over $1,000, designer purses, guns, shoes, flowers, a laptop and cell phone, KitchenAid mixer, robotic vacuum, vacations, tickets to performances, and one-on-one dinners”— and noted one staffer felt "obligated to wear" a necklace he gave her, with Edwards telling her he was disappointed when she didn't.
At a staffer's office farewell party, Edwards got "choked up and teary-eyed" reading aloud a poem he'd written for her with a slideshow of the two of them playing behind him.
While the Ethics Committee concluded the behavior was inappropriate, Edwards sent a 22-page letter in which the sitting congressman felt compelled to inform his colleagues, in writing, that "poetry is not sexual misconduct".
Edwards' defense never really wavered from that framing. The North Carolina Republican leaned on the committee's own finding that he "neither engaged in sexual activity with nor explicitly propositioned any individual staff member," argued there's "no House rule prohibiting members and staff from being friends," and insisted that conduct doesn't become harassment just because someone "looking backward through thousands of pages" can spin it as something that "could be interpreted as romantic".
He went on to note that one staffer called him her "second dad." The censure vote suggests his colleagues found the second-dad-with-designer-purses framing about as persuasive as everyone else did.
The practical stakes of the censure are limited. Edwards had already dropped his reelection bid before any of this reached the floor, and he'll leave the House in January while remaining on committees.
