Insult Gets Added to Injury for Disgraced Carolyn Maloney as She Heads for the Exits

Over the summer, longtime New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D) was locked in a heated battle with fellow New Yorker and Congressional longtimer Jerry Nadler (D), where insults galore were thrown ahead of the August 23rd primary to determine who would be the Democratic nominee (and eventual winner) for the newly-drawn 12th Congressional district.

While Nadler at one point called Maloney, the current House Oversight Committee Chairwoman, “cowardly” over her some of her past stances, Maloney really went for the jugular by repeatedly playing the woman card, calling the current House Judiciary Chair “senile,” and at another point referring to Nadler – who at 75 is a year younger than Maloney – as “half dead.”

Though this is what I’ve been reliably told is pretty standard fare in New York politics whether we’re talking the primary or general election, Maloney nevertheless received the boot in no uncertain terms when all was said and done, and in the process thoroughly disgraced herself by groveling to Joe Biden shortly before the primary and throwing a mini-tantrum during her concession speech – where she predictably blamed her loss on sexism despite repeatedly winning election to Congress since 1993.

In a popcorn-worthy update on this story of Dem-on-Dem infighting, though Maloney is just a few short weeks away from heading for the exits, she’s now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over possible House rule violations and federal law violations over an alleged 2016 Met Gala invite solicitation:

The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., for potentially violating ethics rules by seeking an invitation to the Met Gala.

The committee’s inquiry into Maloney was revealed in a report on Monday, saying she may have improperly sought an invitation to the exclusive event in 2016. Maloney has been a long-time attendee at the event.

“If Rep. Maloney solicited or accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct and federal law,” the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics wrote in the report.

There is also evidence according to the Office of Congressional Ethics report that Maloney also sought out an invite to the 2020 Met Gala event:

Investigators found Maloney may also have asked for an invitation for the 2020 Met Gala, citing an email thread with a staffer in which she asked whether she was invited and how to contact the Met’s government affairs staffer. Lawmakers are generally allowed to attend charitable gatherings for free like the Met Gala if the invitation is unsolicited. But Maloney’s efforts to get an invite could run afoul of the law.

Though Maloney denies the allegations, further evidence detailed in the report confirmed she has a particular affinity for the Met Museum of Art, so much so that her chief of staff pushed for it to be drawn into “a future Maloney-represented district”:

Maloney’s chief of staff also attempted to have New York’s redistricting commission put the Metropolitan Museum of Art inside a potential new district represented by Maloney, according to emails obtained by investigators. Maloney’s aide drafted a letter on behalf of a top official at the Met for his review and signature to ask New York’s independent redistricting commission to put the Met in a future Maloney-represented district.

The delicious irony here is the “future Maloney-represented district” in question – whichever one that might be – that contains the Met will soon be represented in Congress… but not by Maloney.