Committee Resumes Shuster Probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — House investigators are reviving their probe into Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), the House Transportation Committee chairman under fire for his dealings with a lobbyist friend. Mr. Shuster was a key architect of the massive highway bill signed into law in June.

The House ethics committee earlier suspended a portion of its investigation after the Justice Department raised concerns that the House probe could interfere with pending criminal charges against the lobbyist, Ann Eppard.

The committee said Friday it was resuming a full investigation, announcing in a one-line statement that its investigative subcommittee "will proceed with interviews and depositions of witnesses" in conjunction with that case.

Ms. Eppard was Mr. Shuster's chief of staff for 22 years before starting her own lobbying firm in 1994. Her business grew quickly, and her firm earned more than $1.4 million last year from clients

ith business before Mr. Shuster's panel.

The ethics committee's chief counsel, Theodore J. Van Der Meid, refused to say whether the decision was made with Justice's approval, and the U.S. attorney's office in Boston did not return a telephone call for comment.

The committee, known formally as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, has been reviewing the professional and personal ties between Mr. Shuster and Ms. Eppard.

Mr. Shuster's office said he looked forward to having the matter resolved.

"The complaint ... has dragged on for over two years and Congressman Shuster is confident that he has complied with all the rules of the House," the office said in a statement.

The Transportation Committee has jurisdiction over both the federal highway program and trucking safety.

Earlier this year, Mr. Shuster helped enact a $203 billion surface transportation funding bill with several provisions benefiting Ms. Eppard's clients, including authorization for a New York film crew to produce a documentary on transportation infrastructure and designation of additional segments eligible for Interstate funding.

Ms. Eppard is awaiting trial in Boston on charges of taking $230,000 in illegal payments while she was Mr. Shuster's chief of staff to influence the $11 billion "Big Dig" highway construction project in Boston and of embezzling $27,500 from Mr. Shuster's campaign committee, for which she served as assistant treasurer.

She has pleaded innocent.