The House Ethics Committee investigated Democratic Rep. Jim Costa of California in 2023 over allegations that he made inappropriate advances to two congressional interns. The panel voted against a formal probe, but the four women on the committee pushed to admonish Costa publicly.

Ultimately, the majority-male committee never disclosed the investigation.

This episode — described to NOTUS by two people familiar with the discussions — underscores what women in Congress say should be addressed: The Ethics Committee is and has always been dominated by men, which could limit its ability to police sexual misconduct. Women in Congress want that to change. It probably won’t.

Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-California), who served as the top Democrat of the committee for three consecutive terms, told NOTUS, “I think that would certainly help every time you have significant representation of women. Then, I think you’re going to get better results.”

Female lawmakers, with the blessing of both House Republican and Democratic leadership, have been leading the charge to reform the House ethics process following two high-profile resignations over sexual misconduct allegations.

Last month, New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, lamented that “there aren’t enough women representing America” in a press conference with survivors of sexual abuse.

The House Ethics Committee — the body that enforces the House’s code of conduct and investigates sexual misconduct allegations — has always been composed mostly of male lawmakers. The 10-person panel has never had more than four women serving on it at the same time.

House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier preside over two current investigations involving allegations of sexual misconduct. Jose Luis Magana/AP

Following the resignations of Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-California) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), the Ethics Committee released a rare statement in April encouraging “anyone who may have experienced sexual misconduct by a House Member or staffer” to report it to the committee. It also revealed that it had initiated 20 investigations related to allegations of sexual misconduct by House members since 2017.

The committee has said it is currently investigating Reps. Cory Mills (R-Florida) and Chuck Edwards (R-North Carolina) for allegations of sexual misconduct. Currently, there are three women serving on the committee: Reps. Deborah Ross (D-North Carolina), Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas.)

Female lawmakers in the House have complained that the anti-harassment training for members is “laughable.” Last month a group of bipartisan women launched a task force to spell out clearer policies and reporting requirements.

Rep. Deborah Ross is one of three women serving on the 10-person House Ethics Committee. Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO/AP

The Costa case, first reported by NOTUS, was a complicated one. There were allegations that Costa had made advances in 2020 and 2021 to two young interns. And one woman on the committee told other members she herself had seen Costa engaging in inappropriate behavior with young female staffers on a congressional delegation trip, or CODEL, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Costa has denied any wrongdoing.

The committee — which had six male members and four female members at the time — voted to dismiss the case over a lack of substantial evidence. However, discussions took place among members over whether the committee could issue any public statement to call out concerns about Costa’s alleged conduct, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The committee has previously issued letters of admonition to members accused of violating House rules when the committee has determined that an investigation is not warranted, but they find the alleged behavior to be problematic.

Two people familiar with the Costa discussions said women in the committee pushed to publicly admonish the congressman. The male members argued against going public, stating they did not want to “sully somebody’s reputation” when they did not have “great evidence,” one of the sources said.

It’s unclear when or where these discussions took place. A person familiar with the Ethics Committee’s deliberations told NOTUS that these discussions did not take place in the committee’s “executive session proceedings.”

“At no point in the Committee’s executive session proceedings was there any gender divide, nor did any Member of the Committee push for a public letter of admonishment at any time during those proceedings,” the person said.

The allegations against and the investigation into Costa remained secret until NOTUS reported on them — three years later.

NOTUS reported Wednesday that the panel is investigating former committee members for leaks around that closed investigation.

Sen. Joe Manchin, left, greets Rep. Jim Costa in the House chamber at the State of the Union address in 2019. Costa was investigated in 2023 for allegations of inappropriate conduct, but the Ethics panel voted against a formal probe. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

Ultimately the committee privately recommended that Costa take special anti-harassment training, according to the two sources. The Ethics Committee declined to comment on the record for this story.

Some Democrats say that requiring an even number of male and female members could benefit the Ethics Committee, particularly when it comes to looking into sexual misconduct allegations.

“I’m shocked that there are male members who have been reported publicly to have either had relationships with their former staff or harassed their staff that were here for so long before the drumbeat for their removal came” Sánchez said.

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon), who serves in the leadership of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which is currently working with the Republican Women’s Caucus to make recommendations to update the House ethics process, said it was a “great idea” to even out the number of men and women on the basis that men, she suggested, will inherently have less sensibilities about women’s issues and sexual misconduct.

“You have to know when maybe you’re out of your depth a little bit and you’re not controlling things the way they need to be controlled,” she said of the men in the committee.

Rep. Andrea Salinas says it’s a great idea to have an even number of men and women on the House Ethics committee. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

Salinas, who served as a staffer in the House on and off from 1996 to 2008, said it was “gross” getting stared at by older male lawmakers or other men while walking through the halls of Congress and the adjoining office buildings.

“You’re just like ‘Ew. I want to go take a shower,’” she added.

Closing the gender gap on the Ethics Committee would not be an easy task — if it happens at all.

One problem — members aren’t clamoring to be on the panel. Leaders historically make assignments to the Ethics Committee at the start of the new Congress. Former Republican Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania often shares the story of how former Speaker John Boehner tapped him to join Ethics as a sort of a dues-paying stint on the way to the coveted House Appropriations Committee.

“I guess nobody wants to police their colleagues,” Dent told NOTUS. “I mean, that’s not why you ran for Congress, to be head of internal affairs of the police department for Congress.”

Former Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pennsylvania), a member of the House Ethics Committee between 2005 and 2007, laughed when asked by NOTUS if she wanted to be a member of the panel: “Nobody wanted to serve on the Ethics Committee.”

She was appointed by former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who in 2016 went on to plead guilty for paying hush money to conceal he sexually assaulted teenage boys in the 1960s and 1970s. Hastert told her that joining the committee was “not a super popular thing, but it’s very important,” Hart recalled.

Hart believes recent sexual misconduct controversies could make a seat on the Ethics Committee more attractive.

“You may find members, especially female members, who might be much more interested in serving, and may even volunteer to the leaders to serve,” Hart said. More women joining, she added, would make it so that “the sensitivity certainly would be there.”

Rep. Ashley Hinson is one of three women on the House Ethics Committee and the only Republican woman. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

The House Ethics Committee has five Republican and five Democratic members. Adding an extra requirement that more women need to sit on the committee could make finding members even more difficult. One former Republican staffer who previously served as an aide for an Ethics Committee member said there are just not enough women to fulfill the many demands placed on female House members: There are currently 128 women, including nonvoting members, serving in the House — representing only around 29% of House lawmakers.

The staffer said female lawmakers already have to juggle committee assignments, press conferences and optional caucus and task force memberships: “I feel like the female members are already stretched so thinly, at least on the Republican side, that it’s hard to add yet another committee,” they said.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida), who chairs the Republican Women’s Caucus, said to expect some “pretty big changes” to the work of the House Ethics and Administration committees in coming months, but she expressed doubt about gender parity being part of those changes.

“Membership will always change, but if you have the structure in place, that’s what I’m more concerned with maintaining, rather than … what box someone checks,” Cammack told NOTUS.

But Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-California), the top Democrat in the Ethics Committee who hopes to become the chair if Democrats win the House majority in November, said he’s evaluating the idea of having more women in the committee.

“As a general rule, I think healthy public bodies in a democracy should reflect their constituents,” DeSaulnier told NOTUS. “We should reflect the people we govern — and the Ethics Committee too.”

But notably, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), who served on the Ethics panel in the 1990s, told NOTUS she did not think the gender gap was a problem and that women lawmakers are not dissuaded to join the committee.

“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Pelosi said. “No one’s turned away from participating. It’s not a decision to have more men.”