By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Rep. Mike Ross’ office Wednesday dismissed as routine a U.S. Justice Department response to a group calling for an investigation into the congressman’s sale of a family pharmacy to an Arkansas drugstore chain.
The government watchdog group Citizens for the Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the Justice Department last month to determine whether any ethics or criminal violations occurred when Ross, D-Ark., sold his Prescott pharmacy to USA Drug in 2007.
The group released a Justice Department response letter Wednesday in which the agency acknowledged receiving the complaint but did not say specifically what action it would take.
In the letter, dated Tuesday, William M. Welch II, chief of the Public Integrity Section, said the Justice Department “takes allegations of criminal conduct by federal officials very seriously, and all such matters are reviewed carefully by career prosecutors and law enforcement agents.”
Ross has denied any wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, Ross spokesman Brad Howard dismissed the complaint and the agency’s response.
“Anyone with a pen and piece of paper can file a complaint with the Department of Justice,” Howard said. “This was nothing more than a standard DOJ form letter acknowledging they received a complaint. There is really no news here.”
CREW alleged in its complaint that Pine Bluff-based USA Drug paid Ross at least $140,000 over assessed value when it purchased Holly’s Health Mart in Prescott from Ross and his wife for $420,000 in 2007. The group asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the sale to an entity with an interest in pending legislation involved bribery or other federal crimes.
The sale occurred nearly two years before Ross became a major player in the proposed health care overhaul this year as leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats in the House, which this summer succeeded in delaying consideration of health care reform legislation until the fall. Ross has been an outspoken opponent of government-run health care insurance.
Ross said Wednesday the sale “was done openly, honestly, and 100 percent in concert with congressional statutes and regulations.”
“I have never been asked nor have I done a favor or influenced legislation for the buyer,” the congressman said. “This business transaction had nothing to do with my being a member of congress and everything to do with an Arkansas-based family pharmacy business buying a pharmacy my family and I have worked hard since 1993 to develop into a successful, trusted and respected business in my hometown.”
