Ukrainian-born Congresswoman Victoria Spartz under US inquiry: what she is accused of

The US House of Representatives Ethics Committee has conducted a preliminary inquiry into the behavior of Ukrainian-born Indiana Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spartz. The investigation was initiated due to numerous complaints about her alleged "abuse," "general toxicity," and "rage."

This was stated by current and former Spartz aides who filed complaints and were contacted by investigators, Politico reported. The aides, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from Spartz, said their complaints were filed with the commission's investigators before Spartz won the primary last month.

According to the aides, the investigators told them that the Ethics Committee would not launch a formal investigation until after the election to avoid possible interference with the electoral process.

Two people said that Spartz's turbulent behavior continues to this day. In the past few weeks, she has cut the salaries of some staff members by tens of thousands of dollars, accompanied by constant complaints about their work. And in April, Spartz sent a memo to her staff forbidding them to talk to Politico reporters seeking information about her office.

"If you feel strongly to badmouth me I am ok with it … but please do not use some made up speculations that could put someone’s life in danger … it’s unethical and will not serve you well in the future," Spartz said.

On Tuesday, her chief of staff, Patrick Slowinski, resigned after less than a month in the job, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. He declined to comment on the situation. That same evening, Michael Stevens, Spartz's communications director since January, also resigned, according to the same person.

In response to reports of an ethics commission investigation, Spartz said she was "not sure what you're talking about."

In last month's primary, Spartz defeated eight competitors, including state representative Chuck Goodrich, who spent almost three times as much on the campaign as she did. During the primaries, Goodrich criticized her attitude towards her staff,calling Spartz "number one worst boss in all of Congress," according to a 2022 Politico report.

"Manic behavior," Goodrich's ad said, referring to previous reports, "She yells and curses, calling them morons and idiots. Based on the interviews with half a dozen staffers, Victoria Spartz avoided firing staff and instead bullied them until they left."

In response to the previous allegations, Spartz expressed her gratitude to her employees, saying, "I work extremely hard at a pace that is not for everyone."

According to information provided to Politico by six current and former aides in recent months, her leadership style has not changed. Two of the previously mentioned individuals, who wished to remain anonymous, described incidents of verbal abuse that they reported to ethics investigators.

These two individuals also claim that the ethics commission's investigation includes instances of using taxpayer-funded House resources for campaign activities during work hours. According to them, Spartz sometimes approaches staffers with campaign-related questions and calls them on their office numbers during work hours.

"The common thing is for her to call someone up or to their face, cuss them up, say the F-word about a million times, call them effing retards, effing children, effing whatever. That’s a weekly thing. It’s not rare. All my interactions with her have been filled with complete and total rage," said Spartz's staffer.

As you know, during Spartz's two terms in Congress, there was a high turnover of staff. The congresswoman initially supported Ukraine. However, she later changed her position and began to harshly criticize Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ultimately refused to support aid to Ukraine, her country of birth.

As previously reported, in February, a member of the US Congress from the Republican Party in Illinois, Victoria Spartz, said she would not run for any public office in 2024. She also considered leaving the U.S. legislature because her political career was taking up too much of her time.

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