Indictment of Ex-House Postal Official Signals a Conspiracy

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury signaled Thursday that its investigation of the House post office has uncovered a conspiracy of postal employees who worked together to “enrich themselves and their friends” and to benefit members of Congress.

The conspiracy is described in general terms in an indictment made public Thursday of the former chief of staff of the House post office, Joanna G. O’Rourke, 52, of Marshall, Va. The indictment names only O’Rourke, but says other conspirators are known to the grand jury.

The indictment was the latest development in a wide-ranging scandal that includes an investigation into whether three House Democrats used the House postal facility to convert campaign or office funds to cash through phony stamp purchases.

O’Rourke was indicted on charges that she improperly used proceeds of stamp sales to cash checks for House members and illegally ordered postal employees to collect and deliver campaign contributions mailed to lawmakers’ post office boxes.

Other charges allege that she misused postal funds to cash personal checks, mail checks to herself and mail personal items to a House member, and that she backdated the postmark on a federal income tax return.

The indictment, announced by Jay B. Stephens, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, says O’Rourke and co-conspirators profited “by using government funds, equipment and employees for personal matters.” Five other former employees of the House post office have been convicted on theft and drug-dealing charges.

One count against O’Rourke involves an arrangement set up in the mid-1970s to help lawmakers comply with election laws that prohibit them from having political contributions sent to congressional offices. To avoid breaking the law, legislators’ campaigns rented postal boxes off Capitol Hill. House post office couriers then went to those boxes, picked up the mail, including donations, and delivered them to the lawmakers’ offices.

Still under investigation in the scandal are Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Reps. Austin J. Murphy (D-Pa.) and Joe Kolter (D-Pa.). They have refused to testify before a grand jury investigating allegations by Smith that they obtained cash from the House post office through sham stamp transactions.

O’Rourke, former House Postmaster Robert V. Rota and former stamp clerk supervisor James C. Smith have invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before a House task force probing allegations of mismanagement.