Clemens Autograph Seekers May Have Broken Federal Law

Any members of the House oversight committee or their staff who asked Roger Clemens for an autograph during his tour of the Capitol over the past week might have violated a federal law against soliciting things of value from people with interests before the committee, several lawyers with expertise in Congressional ethics laws said.

In addition, if a staff member or a member of the committee had Clemens autograph a baseball, that would apparently violate a House ethics ban against taking a gift valued at more than $50, the lawyers said.

Clemens's entourage here said he autographed scores of items Thursday and Friday while visiting 19 of the 40 members of the committee, which is set to take his testimony Wednesday. Clemens and his lawyers were back Tuesday, visiting more committee members in advance of the public hearing.

"They shouldn't have been asking him to autograph things because no matter what it's worth, there's a prohibition against soliciting gifts of any value," said Bernadette Sargeant, a lawyer in Washington who worked as counsel for the House Ethics Committee until late 2004.

"You're definitely not supposed to do it if it's linked to any action you're taking or being asked to take," she said in a telephone interview. "That's a problem if he's going around meeting with members of the House oversight committee."

Another Congressional ethics expert, Jan Witold Baran, a partner in the law firm of Wiley Rein & Fielding in Washington, said, "It would be like O. J. Simpson giving an autographed football to Judge Ito."

A lawyer for Clemens, Rusty Hardin, said Tuesday that he had "no idea" whether Clemens had signed baseballs in members' offices. Joe Householder, director of Public Strategies Inc., a public relations firm in Houston working with Clemens's lawyers here, said Clemens had autographed mostly paper and some balls and a baseball card in the hallways of the House office buildings.

No staffers were identified Tuesday. Staff people in five offices visited by Clemens said they had not asked for autographs. One staff member for Diane E. Watson, Democrat of California, said Clemens had signed some baseballs for another office, but that staff member then declined to provide details or his name.

Lawyers for Brian McNamee, whose account of injecting Clemens at least 16 times with performance-enhancing drugs is the main subject of the hearing on Wednesday, had objected to the private meetings Clemens and his lawyers had with committee members, saying it was inappropriate lobbying. They have not raised the issue of gifts.

Householder said staffers of some committee members' offices asked Clemens for autographs and to have their photographs taken with him. He said he did not know if any of committee members did.

"Roger's the kind of guy, I've never seen him say no to an autograph unless he was running late for something," Householder said.

Although Clemens and his fans in Congress might not have realized they were violating the rules, they were, three ethics experts said in interviews this week.

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University of St. Louis, said a prohibited gift under House ethics rules can be any "item having monetary value."

"So it looks like an autograph can be a gift," Clark said in a telephone interview, noting that Clemens is one of the most decorated pitchers in baseball history. ...

•	Clemens Autograph Seekers May Have Broken Federal Law The New York Times, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 Byline: Duff Wilson